Where are you? Depending on whether you are in GA or MA or WA you can grow different things.

What is the quality of your shade? That is, is it deep shade created by large trees and/or combined with buildings on all sides or is it bright shade such as that caused by a bed on the north side of a short building with no nearby structures or trees? Does it get any sunlight, either dappled or for shorter periods of time? What else is growing in the area where you hope to plant these vines?

Once you've answered these questions you will be more likely to get helpful answers.

If you want to add your location to your profile so that it shows up by your name in posts so you don't have to remember to add it and we don't have to ask:

Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.

If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

Thanks for the tips! I just joined.

I live in Greensboro, NC.

My house is in the woods and the trees create a pretty thick canopy once the leaves come back. It is really just filtered light that gets through in late spring and summer. It is a North facing wall.

There is a slim flower bed that runs along that side of the house. The only thing planted there is now are 3 hydrangea's. They are very young and haven't started blooming.

I hope this information helps a little. Thanks!

Welcome to Gardenweb! With that little light, you may find that your hydrangeas don't bloom much since most of the hydrangea shrubs do best with some sun or at least bright shade, and you will have difficulty finding things that bloom well in deep shade. One thing to consider is to focus on plants with interesting foliage, considering leaf size, shape, texture, and color during the growing season and in autumn. Finding vines that are OK in deep shade and won't be more of a problem than they are worth (because of tendancies to take over the world via seed or suckers) is tough.

The only twining vine I know much about which is both shade tolerant and not seriously invasive into wild areas in your zone would be some of the species of Aristolochia. A. macrophylla is one and A. tomentosa is another. The leaves are large and heart-shaped and the flowers are relatively subtle.

One vine that is quite ornamental is Parthenocissus henryana, silvervein creeper, which is a relative of Boston ivy and Virginia creeper, but isn't quite as enthusiastic a grower. It has silvery leaf centers and gorgeous leaf color in autumn. It needs something that the vine can cling to with sort of suckers rather than twining, so a wood lattice, tree trunk, or stone wall would work well for this vine (not the side of the house unless it's masonry.) It doesn't have ornamental flowers.

Another couple of species of vines that grow and bloom in shade are both lumped as climbing hydrangeas: Hydrangea anomala ssp. petiolaris and the related Schizophragma hydrangeoides, both of which are huge (to 40') vines that cling similarly to Parthenocissus, needing a flat surface to cling to with little suction cups. Either of these most likely would be too large for a bed at the back of the house, but might be good climbing the trunk of one of your trees.

There are a couple of other vines I found at Brushwood Nursery that might work, but I don't know anything about them so you would have to do research: Dioscorea villosa and Trachelospermum asiaticum Chirimen.

PS - For your flower beds, consider using some plants with gold foliage to add color and brightness such as some of the gold Heuchera (coral bells) cultivars, gold Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra), gold variegated Hosta (which will also bloom in shades of white or purple), or Japanese shrub mint Gold Angel (Leucosceptrum japonicum) which isn't actually a mint.

Clematis armandii could possibly work as well. It is an extremely shade tolerant evergreen form of clematis with early (March/April) scented flowers. It is often sited on north facing walls in my area and lack of direct sunlight does not appear to be any impediment to good flower production. And it is listed as hardy in zone 7.

check out climbing hydrangea!

I haven't read this whole thread, yet, but I live in Zone 6 and have almost the same question. I'm looking for a shade loving, fast growing vine that is non-invasive (as close to native as I can get) that will eventually bolster a rather fragile (dead) bamboo fence. In other words, which of the vines mentioned above will grow in Zone 6, which is colder than those of the original querent? Thanks.

Has anyone had any luck finding Wild Yam Discorea Villosa cuttings for sale?