Growing clematis montana in the shade

alwaysinthegarden

Hi all,
I have an eight foot tree stump that is covered in ivy. It's standing in front of a six foot fence and is north facing. As this sits in front of my patio window, I would like to plant a clematis Montana to scramble up over it to have something nice to look at rather than the ivy all year. If I planted the clematis in the shade would it struggle to grow as it wont see any sun until it has grown higher than the fence? Is it worth removing the ivy first or will the clematis grow over it? I am not intending to cut the stump down. Has anyone else got a successfully growing clematis montana growing in shade?

seacrows

I have a clematis Montana ('elizabeth' I think) growing at the base of a north facing garage wall. It was a little slow to take off, took two years to reach the roof. 15 years later we have to cut it back every year so we can get to the water butts and the door.

I don't know if competing with the ivy would be a step too far to begin with.

I should say, I'm on clay soil and the garage has guttering, so the clematis gets waterlogged in the winter, and bone dry dusty soil in the summer, and still covers the garage with gorgeous pink blossom each year.

Stevedaylilly

Hi 
When you say a tree stump, has it been killed off, if not, then the clematis will be competing for water and nutrients with the tree, and in my experience the clematis will probably fail to flourish. As for shade, Montana will grow in part shade, which is 6 hours of no sunlight but again will find it difficult in full shade

Fire

Many of these are actively 'shade loving'. Look on the post label.

plant pauper

Montana grow to 30ft. You're gonna need a bigger tree stump.
How far away is the fence and will it take the weight of a 30ft plant in full bloom? 

Fire

You could chose a small-growing plant

alwaysinthegarden

Thanks for the replies, I have added a picture of the stump, yes it is dead and sits two foot in front of the fence which casts the shadow all day.  I have the clematis montana in a pot that I bought two weeks ago and has already grown two foot!! I shall plant it by the stump and see what happens.

alwaysinthegarden

By the way, I have grown this plant before more than once and it has always been in direct full sun. The last one had a trunk of three inches diameter at the base. It eventually rotted itself to death and died but not before covering a nearby tree.