I love clematis so that would be my choice. The type 3 clems you can cut back hard every fall so your pergola will let in a lot of light. I like Hagley hybrid, xtriternata rubra marginata, and sweet autumn clematis. The hagley hybid has large pink flowers in May and June. The triternata has small white and red flowers June-August which are very fragrant, and the SAC has fragrant white flowers Sept-Oct. There would be something blooming on it all summer. There are thousands of different clematis that you could choose. These have all done well for me. The SAC does get large and may need additional pruning in June to keep it from smothering the other vines. The foliage is nice and green all summer and disease and pest free and should give you a lot of shade in the summer. You can find pictures of these flowers at clematis on the web.

Here is a link that might be useful: clematis on the web

flowerfan2 ~ say, those are GREAT ideas! I knew I wanted 3 different climbers, but I hadn't thought of the option of 3 from the same genus. I had thought about the option of continuous blooms, so I appreciate your details about bloom times. I will most definitely check out that link. I LOVE clematis and it was on my list as a possible, although I'd been considering a c. montana (had one at a rental cottage once & fell in love with it). I also like your choices for the chopping-them-down option so I can have lots of light in the winter.

Thanks much for the suggestions!

I have a pondside deck/pergola that is somewhat smaller at about 7'x 12'. I have a white Wisteria (bought it before I knew what it was :-) on one post, a 'Star Jasmine' on another post, and a Mandevilla 'Alice Dupont' in a pot going up a third post. On a cedar/copper fence next to the pergola I have two roses, an 'America' and a 'Stairway to Heaven' and 2 Clematis, a 'Julka' and a 'Toki'.

The white wisteria and I have a love hate relationship....I absolutely love the fragrance and the shade the foliage provides for us to sit pondside and imbibe after a long hard day. Before it matured we had to have a shade cloth because of the afternoon sun. What I hate is the mess that the blossoms make in the spring and the leaves in the fall. The pond has koi so I'm forever trying to keep it out of the water. This is only year two for the roses and clematis so it's a bit too soon to get ga-ga over them yet :-) The mandevilla was great the first year but I tried to overwinter inside with marginal results. The jasmine is just now overcoming our strange winter.

Another vine, Actinidia kolomikta (sp?) might be suitable for your pergola, mine is where it gets a fair bit of wind and seems to do all right.

A......

Instead of Hagley Hybrid which fades badly in sun and isn't very vigorous or long blooming try Betty Corning (fragrant) or Venosa violacae or Polish Spirit or Etoile Violette or Huldine. They bloom later but longer and are much larger with more flowers. All are the type you whack down each year.