Rose and evergreen clematis

Ffoxglove

Hello fellow gardeners! 

Last year I planted a climbing rose Cumberland outside my parents door to grow up a trellis and I was thinking about a clematis to accompany it. 

I’ve researched but can’t find much about evergreen clematis and roses. I was wondering if clematis avalanche might work? 

Has anyone tried roses with evergreen clematis? 

Any clematis suggestions would be good. It’s an east facing site. 

Thanks! 

edhelka

I have cartmanii 'Joe' (similar to 'Avalanche' but smaller) but I grow it without support, as a ground cover in my rose bed. The cartmanii group is evergreen but the leaves are quite dainty and don't offer much coverage. They flower in spring (April/May), are lovely and easy to grow (by that, I mean, it hasn't died on me yet).

Ffoxglove

Thanks @edhelka that’s good to know about the foliage being dainty because I don’t want a big birds nest like I had with my Montana! 

I think I’m going to try it. 

My rose is still quite small it seems to be getting off to a slow start 😢 do you think I should wait to plant the clematis? 

K67

Your rose would be happier with the grass cleared well away. You can't feed and mulch with the grass there. 
I think your rose is too small to support a clematis but edhelka idea of ground cover sounds lovely. Cartmanii joe has creamy white flowers but won't be in flower with your rose. 

Suesyn

I have Avalanche in a smallish space near my back door and it's much bigger than I expected. Last year I gave it quite a haircut after flowering and its as big as ever now and has so many buds on it. 
This is last spring, I think it's at least 2m wide and more than 2-5m tall. It's on a single storey and trying to get into the roof. I love it but as I said it's definitely bigger than I thought it would be. 

Butterfly66

I think the challenge of combining an evergreen clematis with a rose would be access to prune and train the rose without damaging your evergreen clematis?

Also some evergreen clematis really look awful after flowering. We have Early Sensation, beautiful foliage and masses of early flowers. Or at least that’s what I was expecting and the books say. It was fabulous but what they don’t tell you is that it loses a lot of foliage over the Summer, looking quite sick if not dead, before bouncing back for the Winter. So not so much an evergreen just better in Winter than Summer 😕

Ffoxglove

Thanks for the replies @K67 I have now cleared away the grass, this was an older picture. I’ve given maybe 2ft around the base of the rose. 

@Suesyn that clematis of yours is stunning but that is larger than I wanted! Glad I haven’t put the order in yet...
@Butterfly66 that’s a shame about the foliage in summer, I wanted evergreen because I was hoping for glossy leaves all year round. 

I’m wondering if I need to rethink this. @[email protected] what does your avalanche look like when it’s not in flower, does the foliage stay? When do you prune it? 

K67

I wonder if a hardy geranium might do. Some are quite tall and do clamber up other plants. They probably won't be evergreen but a lot do flower for over 6 months. I have Rosanne and it is often still in flower in November.

Ffoxglove

Hi @k67 I’m definitely going to get some for the base. I love Rozanne.