Thank you so much for the very well thought out reply! I really liked the look of Venosa Violacea and liked that Sweet Summer Love was scented. Thanks for instructing me on how to plant them as well. All around awesome advice :)

It did say that Mrs. R. Brydon was more sprawley, but she supposed to be scented. Do you grow her?

If you cut back the sweet autumn clematis, can it be controlled? I think I'll take your advice and start with the first two- with maybe Mrs. R Brydon to tie up somewhere, will she work with a rose?

I grow four of those (Piilu, VV, SSL, and Mrs. RB) and have worked with Jackmanii at my mom's.

VV is a relatively tall plant with delicate ferny leaves and those gorgeous flowers, but does need something good-sized to climb on; it's not a small plant.

Mrs. RB is large and shrubby - it makes an enormous untidy mound that in my garden blooms for a shorter period than any other clematis I grow and I honestly can't smell a scent, though it may be because its bloom coincides with one of my periods of more severe allergies. Probably not a good starter plant, and it's one I won't replace if the voles eat it.

Piilu grows well in my garden and hasn't had wilt, but I've read that type 2/early large flowered plants have a tough time thriving in the SE US, so it might not be a good choice for your location.

Jackmanii is easy and can get good-sized and has nice purple blooms. The only time my mom's got pruned back was when I happened to visit in winter, and it looked great every summer regardless of whether it got pruned.

My SSL is new this year, so I really can't evaluate it yet.

Sweet autumn is a problem because it seeds around ferociously in areas where the seeds can ripen. It would only take one year of being out of town at the wrong time to create a lot of weeding out of volunteers over the next several years. It is also an enormous plant that can smother other nearby plants if not given enough space; it doesn't play well with others. It's not an issue in my cold zone 5 since the seeds haven't time to ripen, but in your area it can be a real problem and you might not end up popular with the neighbors if they start getting volunteers. It is lovely when blooming as it is now where I am in northern OH.

To be honest, I wouldn't grow clematis for fragrance. Since you are a rose grower, you may expect that the scented ones will have strong scents, but IME they are at best very light scent that don't waft much with the possible exception of sweet autumn, a couple that Brushwood Nursery sells (Sugar-sweet blue and Sugar-sweet lilac) and some of the Clematis montana selections. I do grow many plants for their scent, but clematis isn't one of them. Others (including you) may not have the same experience, but I grow them for the flowers first, and then if they happen to have scent, that might be nice, but it's not an outstanding feature.

Thank you! I will not be growing Piilu or Sweet autumn then. I love the two from brushwood you recommended. I am growing for flowers first, scent last, since I do have the roses. I actually like light scents, even with the roses some times. Maybe our humidity or times of day brings the light scented ones out at times.

I will also take your advice on Mrs. RB. Thanks so much for your detailed description.

VV was the one I wanted to grow with Veilchenblau. Do you think that might work?

I don't think I can grow Veilcheblau here as I have periodic winters that get down below -20 for short periods of time, and I refuse to insulate plants since the voles would move into the warm mulch condo. So I can't help there. If you have a trellis that the rose is on that is skinny enough for the clematis to climb, I think you will be fine. If not, I'd add a trellis or obelisk (or add some wire for the clematis to a fat-barred trellis) so that the floppy stems of the rose aren't providing all the support for the clematis. I've found that works better since shrubs with flexible stems tend to get pulled out of shape by clematis if they are the sole support. Where I have a climbing rose and clematis together I have a trellis or obelisk.

Perhaps someone else can weigh in on the attractiveness (or not) of the mauvey shade of Veilcheblau with the deep true purple of VV. Or you can just give it a shot and move one of them if the combo doesn't appeal.

I should add that if you have voles, I've had to add protection (a ring of wire mesh, 1/4" hardware cloth, about a foot around and 8" deep) around my VV and many other clematis because the voles eat them. I place the ring about 2" above ground and 6" below.

Thanks I do have voles and they are horrible. I have moles and they don't do much harm I don't think but the voles go through the moles tunnels and eat roots :(

Thanks for the advice on how to do them together as well, I thought it would be fine through the rose, so thanks for letting me know it will need it's own support.

If the color doesn't appeal I can move it later, what color rose do you think will look good with VV? I have tons of different roses.

White or any of the red/pink spectrum would look fine. I have one of my VV in a bed with yellows and oranges (though not roses) along with other clematis in various shades of purple and white. I just am not too fond of near matches that are close in color but off by just a bit. You may like the combo, so it may not be an issue for you.

Alana, I have 'Royal Sunset' climber --- an apricot rose. Though I don't care for strong contrast in my garden, Venosa Violacea looked well with it. I did not care for it with pastel nor medium pink roses. Wasn't great with pastel lavender (Lagerfield) or yellow (St. Patrick).

Unfortunately I think Venosa Violacea would disappear too much with 'Veilchenblau'. They're both violet and have the lighter centers. Jackmanii or a strong pink like Ville de Lyon may work better.

I got SSL from Bluestone this spring, and I also have two other clematis from them. Keep in mind that Bluestone sells small 3.5" plants that will take at least a year or two to give you a show if you go with them.

Thanks Irisgal and arlene, I just saw where this got more comments :) So I'lll need to pot them up for a while, check..

I did like jackmanii too so thinks for the suggestion!