Clematis: Clematis 'round the pine tree project, 0 by JudyinGA

JudyinGA wrote:
I have a tall, ugly, bare-bottomed pine tree that I was going to cut down until I saw a Clematis scrambling up a tree in a photo here on DG. I thought maybe I could save the tree and make it more attractive at the same time. I live in Zone 7b, just south of Atlanta. Our winters are very mild with only a few weeks of really cold weather.

The tree gets a lot of shade until mid-afternoon when it gets a few hours of direct sun on one side ... maybe 3-4 hours. It is on the edge of my "woods," a forested area I allowed to grow on its own for the past 21 years. I recently cleared the front 30' of small saplings, leaving an area for a shade garden. I am going to plant more small trees (dogwoods, maybe Japanese maples) to give the area dappled shade.

I want to stick with my colors of rosy red/burgundy, to pink (all shades) to white.

I am new to gardening and have never grown Clematis before. I purchased one last spring, a Montana Broughton Star (still in a pot awaiting a home), which I have learned would be appropriate for this project. Someone said any of the Montana group would work and, after doing a little research, I see they grow higher (or longer) than most others. However, most have smaller blooms. Pirl posted a photo of her Montana Grandiflora which was gorgeous and has medium sized blooms that look like dogwood blossoms. It was beautiful and I think I would like to go with that.

It appears that none of the Montana group has red blooms. Would a climbing rose do instead? I am going to wrap fencing loosely around the bottom of the tree to give the Clematis a head start up the tree and hope it will cling to the rough bark when it outgrows the fence.

Questions:

Do I need more than one Clematis; if so. how many?
Would a rose work for my red color; if so, which one ... or more than one?
Is there a trumpet vine that has a rosy red bloom or are they all orange-red?
How about Hyacinth bean vine?
Should I plant now or wait until spring?
If now, where can I buy Clematis and get them delivered quickly?

Here's a photo of the poor, ugly thing. Reminds me of a teenager going through puberty --- all legs. Bless its heart. It needs a makeover ---BAD! I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas.

Judy

This message was edited Oct 11, 2009 11:07 AM