I am not familiar with clematis 'Bells' and can't find anything listed as such on COTW so kinda difficult to offer advice on an unknown quantity. Do you have any more info on it as to type of clematis or a more appropriate name?

If your husband is good at woodworking, try googling tuteurs, trellises, and tripods and you will come up with a wide variety of structures that he can build for you.

I have clematis planted as close as a few inches apart on an eight foot long trellis I built. Planting two clematis on a tripod or four sided structure should be fine.

Here's the link for the Bells clematis

http://www.tmseeds.com/product/7990.html
Thanks for your advice.

Melissa

I have an integrifolia 'Bushy Blue Bells' that I grow through a grid like those for peonies. It gives enough lift to keep the clematis off the ground while still letting it drape. With deadheading mine blooms from spring until frost.

Should have figured it was an integrifolia of some sort but it does add to the confusion when a clematis is not called by its official name. I like the color of the integrifolia flowers in the picture but integrifolia the species does not vary in color like in the picture. I figure that what is pictured and being sold is a mixture of generic integrifolia seeds. That isn't necessarily bad since you don't know what different colored flowers you might get out of such seeds, but the catalog shouldn't be listing them as clematis integrifolia since that can easily be confused with the straight species.

This is the plan I used to make three obelisks for my David Austin Roses last year. I make mine taller, a bit shorter than 8 foot. The base is about 3'. You can modify the size by choosing shorter or longer woods.

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I have multiple roses and clematises growing on each.

Here is a link that might be useful: obelisk plan

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your pic. I showed my husband right away and told him that's what I want for Mothers Day next year. You stated you have roses and clematis together? I started considering putting some climbers on my fence on my empty post's. Now I'm wondeing if I should do 1 clematis per obelisk and plant a climbing rose with it instead of doing 2 clematis?

Dinseynut:

Did you see the link to its plan on the bottom of the link?

I used 2x2x8's for the four corners and 1x2x8 for the
lateral supports. To make it sturdier, you can use 2x2's for the laterals too. It is a heavy structure and will support a rose and few clematis. Comparing to roses, clematises have light canes and this structure for them alone is kind of over kill unless you are planning on multiple.

Let me know if you need more info.