building a pergola, what do I plant around it?

I want to build a 12' x 20' pergola in my back yard, with the 20' going east to west. Since I'm going to clear, level and prep the site in the next few weeks and build the pergola itself next summer, I'm not sure what types of plants to place in the beds that will surround the ends. I do want vines to climb it from the corners and low type shrubs...My main question is: Do I use full sun, part sun or full shade ones around it, since the pergola will be blocking many of them from the sun? I live bordering the 5/6 zones in central PA if that is helpful.
Any help would be grateful!

I'm a novice gardener...but Morning Glorys are stunning. My friend's mother had them on her pergola and they went up and over and were just gorgeous. This was in western PA, but I think that's the same zone. These start from seed in the ground after danger of frost. Good luck!

Clematis would be very pretty on your east end and it's a perennial. Actually, I have clematis on every side of my house except the north and they are all beautiful. If you put any on the west end, you might consider white as the west sun can fade the color of the flowers.

Just remember when picking out plants that full sun does not mean all day sun. Full sun is defined as at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, partial sun and partial shade are just about interchangeable and means 3 - 6 hours of sunlight and shade means less than 3 hours of sunlight, preferably early morning or early afternoon. Not a good time of year to check, with the shorter daylight hours, but watch when the sun would hit the ends of the pergola. I think the east end would get greater than the required 6 but not sure about the back portion of the west side. If you had lower plants towards the front of that bed and taller ones at the back they should all meet the 'full sun' definition.

If you have trees that will block the sun during part of the day it could make a difference.

If I am wrong someone will come in with the correct information.

You can plant the Clematis in the shade side for the roots and the top growth trained up to the sun as this is the best conditions for them, also if you are worried about colder winter months, mulching will help if you use good quality compost/home made is best as it feeds the plants too, Roses are good too and you can grow the Clematis to use the rose as a support for this, pick rose colours to show off the flowers from the Clematis like a pink rose with purple clem's or yellow rose with lilac, they flower different times so you get a nicer effect, There are many others you can grow depending on how well you prepare the soil, things like Passion flowers, Solanum, Wisteria, Lonicera, these are mostly perminant flowering plants and you can use them as supports for annials till they get better established, shade ground covers are things like Ferns, Hostas etc. hope you get the wonderful effect you are dreaming off and enjoy. Good Luck. WeeNel.

My problem with planting annuals like the morning glory/moonflower combination that my family loves so much, is that they are annuals.... No winter interest at all since you have to climb up and clean off all of the vines, WeeNel has some great ideas in her post.