regarding the 'pretty' leaves, don't answer that! LOL What I find interesting may not interest others, and vice versa. I'm sure the essence of a full wall of foliage is pretty in itself.

Thanks

Are you anywhere close to RBG (Royal Botanical Gardens - Burligton/Hamilton area)? If so, it might be worth your while to check out the pergola walk in the Hendrie Park gardens. They have a wide range of vines displayed on the very long pergola there. This is one section of them:

It'd be a good place to see what's possible.

I'm not that close, nor that far from the RBG (just over 1 hour drive). However, do they all look like the picture? I'm looking for a completely covered wall look. They do look 'pretty' though! :)

The vines - and espaliered trees - along the pergola walk are meant, I think, as samples to show different vines and different ways to grow them. So it's probably best to see them in person so you can get a better sense of what is possible that might suit your needs. Here are another couple of pictures from last fall:

We were at RBG this afternoon and I just wanted to update the picture of the fruit tree trellis espalier. It wes beautiful in bloom. If I had a pergola I'd love to make 'walls' like this. Flowers in spring; fruit in summer; it'd be worth the effort to do the training.
{{gwi:160405}}

Realistically, most plants will flower in some fashion. I'd probably use a widely spaced wire mesh to provide the structure to grow on. If you set it on a diagonal with a metal or wood frame that may look more decorative.

Some suggestions:
You can plant a clematis that needs full sun to flower well (and so will be relatively non-flowering) or an atragene clematis that does its blooming early in the season before you will be wanting to spend lots of time in your pergola and before the bees in my garden are active other than an occasional bumblebee which make noise but don't bother me. After May most Atagenes are done blooming.

Hardy Kiwi - there is a variety of male plant with pink/white variegated leaves you could try, Actinidia kolomikta 'Arctic Beauty',though the color in the leaves doesn't show for a few years. Grown as a foliage plant, but don't know how attractive to bees the flowers are.

Coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens? I am wondering if since it has such a deep narrow flower (which hummingbirds love) whether the bees would not be interested due to not being able to reach the goodies? I will watch mine this summer and let you know, but after doing a web search, where many sites lumped birds, butterflies and bees together, I did find 2 sites that said specifically that bees aren't attracted to coral honeysuckle due to the depth of the flowers, FWIW.

Groundnut, Apios americana does have flowers, but for a relatively short time in late August/early September. The flowers are large and you could trim them off for your significant other. The leaves are compound and the plant grows from small tubers, so if you plant several along the base of your wires they may well be thick enough to give you the desired privacy.

Consider some alternatives instead of plants as well. A large piece of sun resistant fabric (like what is used to cover outdoor cushions) that suits your taste (I'll bet you can find it with a trellis of vines printed on it) or some decorative flags hung like wall hangings over the opening or a sculptural metal screen may suit your purposes without the bee issue that live blooming plants creates.