Anyone in Seattle/Tacoma area have crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)? If so please post what the vines (leaves) look like after the extreme winter we have -- it sounds like crossvine are a good choice for what I'm after but it still sounds a bit questionable how well it thrives as a true evergreen in our Seattle/Tacoma winter climate. I really want a vine that doesn't look sickly in the winter.

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking for. Is it a fragrant evergreen vine? If so, you need to understand that most "evergreen" vines are not entirely evergreen in our climate - most are semi at best and the bulk more or less fully deciduous. IMO, the best at holding foliage would be Clematis armandii, but even that can experience some foliar distress in a winter such as the one we just had.

Trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine) well established and in a somewhat protected location should hold most of its foliage and is another good choice. 'Evergreen' honeysuckles aren't and those that are touted to be evergreen (L. sempervirens) aren't fragrant either. But if you can tolerate them being deciduous and a mass of bare vines in winter, they are among the most fragrant of any flowering vines. Bignonia is also neither fully evergreen here nor fragrant, and neither is its more common cousin, Campsis (trumpet vine).

My Clematis armandii is well established (20 years) in a semiprotected, north facing location and was pretty much untouched by this winter's cold. It is currently filled with buds that should open by the end of this month and that are moderately fragrant for the 3-5 weeks it is in bloom. But for best and longest lasting frangrance - all summer - I'd put my money on honeysuckle.

Hydrangea seemannii. mine hasn't flowered yet, so no report on fragrance. foliage held up fine this winter with no protection.

check out the paghat's garden page on the plant.

Clematis 'Betty Corning' is fragrant. You need to get right up to the flowers to smell them though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Betty Corning

No fragrance to H. seemanii and I'd also be moderately skeptical of its pristine winter appearance. Anything that is only zone 8 hardy will be marginal in some winters and not fully evergreen. Again, this is a vine that would appreciate a protected location.

Hi, I live in Puyallup also. I grow half a dozen varieties of honeysuckle and have never had any winter damage to them. I am in the valley were it is warmer though. I have an evergreen honeysuckle(lonicera similis var asiactic)that I bought at Herronswood years ago. It stays nice looking all winter and has very fragrant flowers in July. If you want cuttings LMK. I have a fiona sunrise Jasmine that is decidous, but has the pretty yellow stems in the winter. It's flowers are very fragrant also. I have never had die back on it due to cold weather. A lot of species clematis are fragrant. Sweet autumn clematis, montanas, flammula, serratifolia,triternata rubra marginata, and the armandii that gardengal mentioned. Most of these are not evergreen though, but very cold hardy here in Puyallup. Karen

Our jasmine (the big leafed kind, not the tiny leaves) and our armandii have made it through the winter well, with most if not all of their leaves, and the armandii is blooming right now!--the jasmine in a protected location, the armandii up on an arbor removed from the house but still fairly protected.

Others have mentioned elsewhere having damage to evergreen clematis this year. I personally saw one in my travels that was completely brown. This came as no great shock, based on damage to this plant I have seen in previous years.

No hydrangeas are fragrant, and no evergreen hydrangeas (of those known and grown with any kind of normal frequency) are completely hardy either.

Lonicera henryi seems to have pretty persistent leaves but is not fragrant.

A good method with climbers is to interplant one that has one set of attributes you want with one that has another set of traits desired. You do have to select kinds of comparable vigor, and do some occasional pruning and training to keep them playing well together.

But climbers kept confined to an artificial structure or surface always have to be managed anyway. Examples of evergreen clematis allowed to pile up and become a nightmare with their peculiar large persisting dead leaves are common here; the star jasmine is noticeable for being more like what many people probably had in mind when planting the clematis. But Trachelospermum will make persisting large, seldom-damaged specimens only in sheltered nooks of mild urban or saltwater neighborhoods where temperatures below 15 degrees F. are sufficiently rare.