And now as I'm researching Brushwood, I'm wondering if I should trying to mix two varieties. Other than seeing them in other people's gardens, I'm totally new to clematis!

Looks like Sugar-Sweet Lilac is ideal for my area and soil...

Bumping in hopes this gets the attention of someone...

You can mix varieties if you like but for ease of maintenance, keep to the same pruning group.

That is also a not overly large trellis and you are going to have to hunt to find vines that will fit it and not overwhelm it :-) Any of the patio or Boulevard clematis would work. At most you will need to plant two - one at either end. And if not one of the smaller cultivars, one vine would probably work fine but will need training and guidance to grow more horizontally.

And remember that coverage and heavy flowering will not be immediate. Clems take several years to establish well and perform their best.

Thank you gardengal!!

Would you recommend something else for use on this trellis or is clematis ideal for the purpose?

It's a bit small for clematis from my viewpoint but you can make it work if you want to. OTOH, an annual vine, like sweet peas or blackeyed Susan will fill in faster and bloom heavier....if just for a single season.

Hi NHbabs! Excellent point! The exhaust runs south - opposite the house - and about 4' away from the trellis. Hopefully that will provide sufficient clearance?

Apart from that deciduous clematis often look like a bunch of dead stuff during the winter in my area. And of course without live foliage being present any screening provided by their presence is minimal - you might do better to plant evergreen shrubs to hide your generator. Or even give it a solid wood fence enclosure.

embothrium, thank you! There is English ivy that is already finding its way on to the trellis, so soon enough it will be the evergreen presence, with (hopefully!) clematis growing and flowering over it in the warmer months.

Filigree clematis is one that I have that is short. It’s listed as being 1-3 ft tall. This is mine from over the summer. It’s a couple years old so I expect it to fill in more. This support is about 30 inches tall. Ignore the netting. I have lots of rabbits and deer in my yard.

I went out to look at the exhaust area by my generator for you. I would give the plants more space because the exhaust is hot enough to completely melt the now down to dirt about 2’ out, but there is clear melting on the snow out to between 4‘ and 5’. If the exhaust is hot enough to melt snow after running for 20 minutes once weekly in temperatures in the 20’s F, I think that the relatively delicate leaves of the clematis won’t be happy at 4’. Is there room to place the trellis farther away? Or perhaps try something inexpensive like sunflowers grown from seed before spending the money on clematis.

Thanks NHBabs! So, let's say the Generac label on my generator is the front right corner; then the exhaust directs to the left side and back left corner. In summer we test every other week for 3 minutes. Given that, do you think they'll experience much effect from the testing given distance, angle, frequency and time? Of course, if we lose power for an extended time, I may lose the plants. We tried to place the trellis as far away from the generator that would still leave room for its plants and the path to the deck.

I think painting the generator a darker color will help. Dark green?

We have a 3.5' high yew shrub (keep the diameter at 6') planted with its center 4' from the house wall and with its center 3' left of the left front corner of our partial house generator. On our Generac, the fresh air comes in from the front of the right side panel which has to stay clear, and the hot air is blown out the back of the left side panel. A yew is a pretty tough plant, but the bottom back of the shrub has been killed off to the center stems by the heat that is blown on it and past it - up to 2' high closest to the generator and 1.5' high further from the generator. Some of the hot air may be bounced off or absorbed by the brick wall.

We run ours 15 minutes once a week, and have occasional, usually short (10 minutes to an hour), power outages. Ours is placed with the back parallel to the house, not perpendicular as yours appears to be. We hadn't finished building the house when the entire NE electrical grid went out for 4 days one year.

I have lots of clems around the lot, including one 4' from the hot air source in front of the generator (which is blocked by the generator) , and one 4' from the house wall and 6' from the hot air source, but that is partially blocked by the yew. These face NE. Neither is affected by the heat from the generator.

I'm on the border of zones 5b-6a, and have sandy loam soil. Most of our lot is partial / filtered shade much of the day. Many of my clems are 1-4 years old and I've moved some that are older, so not a lot of history to give you great advice. However, FWIW, the early blooming ones (#2) that have given me the most blooms (without fertilizer) so far (but that you wouldn't want to cut back too far) are Claire de Lune (faces NW - gets heat from brick that had some SW sun on it, & SW), Blue Ravine (faces E), Fleuri (E), Ibi (E), Josephine (NE), Minister (NE), Niobe (NW), Silver Moon (NE).

#3s (can be cut down low) Etoile Violette (faces S), Giselle (S), Madame Julia Correvon (NW - gets heat from brick that had some SW sun on it), Roguchi - needs (and gets) at least 6 hours of full sun (E), Samaritan Jo (S), Sapphire Indigo (NE).

Our lot is covered with dozens of 60' tall oaks and a lot of shrubs, so even if a clem faces a certain direction, it will get a fair amount of shade except in June & July. So if the clems face south, about 15 -20' away are tall trees. Most of the ones that face east get no afternoon sun because of the trees.

With your generator (not knowing what else is where), I think I would try a clem in front of the word Generac (but will the roof overhang or wind direction keep rain from getting at the clem?), and a durable low evergreen shrub forward of the left corner.

I bought the clems mentioned at Donahue's, Joy Creek Nursery, and locally.

Anne

Thanks for taking the time to explain your setup, Anne. It was helpful, plus I have some new clems to explore!

No, the roof overhang won't interfere with them getting rain. The reason we put the trellis up is to facilitate growth that will block the view of the generator while sitting up on the deck. The ground view is less of an issue because the generator is unavoidable if one is walking around in the backyard, which most people won't be doing. We tossed around the idea of boxing it in, as someone mentioned, but we wanted to try a more natural, colorful, blooming solution if possible.

Could you box in the generator with fencing and put the trellis in front of the fencing?

Sherry

Thanks, Sherry! For a variety of reasons, we don't want to box it in. I'm just seeking input on ideal plantings for the trellis.

For the record, we stood out there while the test was taking place yesterday and there was barely movement coming out of the side. All movement was at the back left corner, toward the concrete. Anything planted in front of the trellis is not going to experience effects.

An update on how this turned out for anyone curious: 3 Rebecca Clematis are now happily hiding our generator!

Those sure are some gorgeous blooms!!

Thanks! Year 3 was a true Leap!! 🤩

Nice of you to update.

Great picture @DCF-Z6A. Thanks for returning with the update.

I love Rebecca but I couldnt get it to last more than a couple of seasons...I tried twice.

Thank you Rouge. She's in dappled sun in the summer, so her flowers aren't the bright red the variety is known for, but rather a wine red with a gorgeous purple inner stripe - which I love! 

The planter nearest the house has the least sun exposure and is definitely the most temperamental:  wilt has taken out vines on that side the last two years. I think I caused the issues, though, by bumping the vines at their base while fertilizing. Luckily this year it happened after the spring bloom. 

Here are a few close-ups for anyone wondering what Rebecca looks like in shade. She's still a beauty. My first clematis and I'm hooked! Definitely worth the effort.