In article ,
Janet Tweedy wrote:

What combination of plants could I suggest to someone who has a lovely
metal arch and would like fragrant flowers but more imprtantly as long a
period of interest as possible.
Quite sheltered garden facing south, neutral to alkeline soil

They aren't expert gardeners so good doers perhaps, but not rampant stuff.
Colour not important

I thought lonicera out because it so often gets infested, jasmine might
get unruly(though poss, stephanese) and doesn't take to pruning, maybe
clematis and roses or a trachleospermum, maybe even some annual climbers
like ipomea, eccromocarpus

The last are not scented. My experience with scented climbers is not
good, but I am trying some Clematis flammula. Don't bother with any
jasmine - the only hardy, nominally scented, one is J. officinale
and it's a b*gg*r to prune (and, in my experience, neither flowers
well nor is strongly scented).

In my (again, limited) experience, honeysuckles vary immensely in
vulnerability to aphids - L. periclymenum and japonica seem to be
resistant, x brownii and x tellmanniana need direct sun for any
resistance, and etrusca is hopeless. henryi and armandii seem
resistant, too, but would smother anything else on an arch.

And, while I grow them, sweet peas seem hopelessly vulnerable, too.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.