In article , "Kevin" wrote:

I have a gazebo that I would like to put a climbing vine on. I have had
some success with morning glories but they seem to take a long time to the
as tall as I would like them. Every now and then I see a very pretty vine
that has orange flowers on it and always wonder what is is. Anyway, I live
in the Chicago area and would like the vine to be perennial, not have to be
cut back each year, and product flowers. The gazebo is about 8-10 feet
high.

Thanks for any advice.

The desire for rapid growth AND not needing to be cut back is going to be
a very hard one to achieve simultaneously. Only something slow-growing is
apt to save you from pruning chores. Otherwise i THINK the following
should do well in Chicago, though I've no personal experience gardening
anywhere that gets that cold in winter & you should check choices for your
zone, & take advantage of the Chicago Botanic Garden to see what really
adoes best in your city.

Kiwi. Plant a male that you let grow over the roof of the gazebo, & a
female that you train all around the sides of the gazebo (so all fruit
will be in arm's reach). The two plants will cover it all up densely. The
male can be let to go a little wild but the female will need annual
shaping & cutting with some complete instructions to hand, to maximize
fruiting power. A "main" vine or three can become large & woody but most
lesser canes will be cut back in two year cycles.

Akebia quinata. Get like four completely different cultivars to plant on
each side of the gazebo -- the flowers are quite varied from type to type
though the leaves all look identical. With multiple cultivars growing in
proximity you will almost certainly get some of the elongaged seedy
fruits. People with just one vine or multiples of one cultivar never see
the fruits, which are edible though awfully seedy inside hard husks.

Honeysuckle vines. Find out which cultivars do best in your zone, & get a
couple different kinds. A few have edible flowers for salads. All bloom
spectacularly for summer followed by berries, usually glassy red.

Boston Ivy. Rapid growth, gorgeous autumn color.

Virginia creeper. Aggressively rapid growth.

Dutchman's Pipe. Thickly screening, extraordinary flowers.

American Bittersweet. Rapid growth. Will be heavy with fruits if it gets
enough sun & have both male & female present.

Porcelain Vine. Beautiful leaves with good autumn color, purple berries.

Climbing deciduous hydrangea. Very slow to establish, but will not need
much pruning either. When well aged, the bright orange vining limbs are
pretty even in winter. Big lacecap flowers in spring sometimes dry nicely
on the vines with continuing ornamental power. Don't care for too much
direct sun unless persistantly moist.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/