Please advise on the relative merits of these climbers

If the site is sunny and sheltered I'd go for the Trachelospermum, as it has lovely scented flowers. You could try making a bottomless raised bed for the plant to start off in. It would only need to be about 12 inches high and filled with good soil/compost mix. If you have room, try the Solanum as well.

Solanum's nice in a sunny spot, but not reliably hardy. Hydrangea seemanii dislikes cold winds, but tolerates cold and shade well. Pilostegia is a shade plant too, bit of a slow grower.

Hello Lily ..

Agree with Bamboo on the Hydrangea seemanii...
I have one which has been growing up a north-facing fence for several years ... doing okay but not growing all that fast ...

Trachelospermum jasminoides ... I have this growing in several different areas of my garden... I love it... and agree with Volunteer... does best in sun and away from strong winds ...

I have two Pileostegia viburnoides... one gets a lot of sun, growing up a fence which faces South East... the other gets less sun... growing up a fence facing East. The former has grown much faster ...

I hope this helps. :o)

I don't like ivy because my neighbour grows it like a crop all over the place ... and it invades my garden, damaging my fences which cost me a lot of money and much time to construct and paint ... :o(

Many thanks for your very helpful comments Volunteer, Bamboo and Tt.
I need something fast growing so I 'll discount the Pileostegia and maybe the Hydrangea. Maybe I will try and fit in both the Trachelospermum and Solanum, not sure how much room there will be yet. The area is to be utility for compost bins etc but I need to have something evergreen to cover trellis at the rear.
Ivy would be very much a last resort Tt! If I did plant it I know I'd regret it and with these lovely plants to choose from, who needs Ivy?
Thanks again for your replies :o)

Lily... look up Trachelospermum asiaticum as well...

glad you are trying to avoid the ivy ;o)

Hya lily, never grown any of the plants myself but my neighbour grew a Solanum and it was rampant,( yes grew ever so big )lol .
Big no no to ivy, he grew that as well and it was always trying to encroach on to my garden.

You might also want to check up on Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens).

I was wondering what on earth Gelsemium was - I know it as Bignoides...

I don't know what you are talking about ! lol ;0)))

Actually I might have mis spelled it, it might be Bignoinoides, or something similar - whatever, its not fully hardy here anyway

Trachelospermum Asiaticum looks and sounds lovely Tt, in what way does it differ to Jasminoides? So many choices, before I went to the GC I thought it would be restricted to Clematis Armandii (which I'm not keen on) or the dreaded Ivy!
Carolina Jessamina looks beautiful Tug, how I wish I could grow it here.
There may not be room for both plants then Val if Solanum is very rampant - more choices! The soil is very poor though so that might stop it getting so big.

Hi Lily...
from memory, I think the Asiaticum flowers are slightly larger, but I'll check up, and come back with another comment :o)

You could plant Asiaticum and Jasminoides near each other and let them intertwine... sort of naughty ..lol.

From my reading ...

"The flowers of yellow star jasmine T. asiaticum are very similar to those of the Trachelospermum jasminoides but have a yellow star shape at the centre."

Asiaticum is thought to be slightly hardier than T. jasminoides.

That's odd, Bamboo, because they are hardy down to -12 C, here!

That is odd - over here its described as 'frost hardy but may lose its leaves in winter'. Never see it anyway, isn't this the one that's poisonous to honey bees?

Thanks for looking that up TT, I'm very easily led astray when it comes to plants so don't come up with any more 'naughty' suggestions! lol. Actually, that does sound rather nice and I think I've just persuaded OH to erect another piece of trellis so maybe........ :o)

Hello Lily...
I have several pics. of Trachelospermum on my GoY photos and blogs ... might help you decide for sure ...

The photo on the ref. below shows my T. jasminoides in last year's snow... it survived no problem... sometimes the leaves turn reddish, as you can see ...

http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/125395-below-the-snow-the-leaves-glow/member/terratoonie

and this blog, which you saw about a year ago ...
http://www.growsonyou.com/terratoonie/blog/7146-i-used-to-like-you-now-i-love-you

... and ... yes... good idea ..... ask OH for another piece of trellis for your naughty planting . ;o) Lol.

Yes I remember that blog, just been back to have another look and I like it just as much as before so I think the decision is made :o)). Love the glossy leaves, seems rather a shame to put it in the composting area but I shall still be able to see some of it from the house once established.

Yikes, Bamboo! This is the first I've heard of it being poisonous to honeybees! Now I've got to go tear out my own. I do know that the native bees suffer not at all from it.

I know that it is evergreen in Camp Verde, Arizona, which is a smidge colder than most of the UK (USDA zone 7) but there is much less rain and snow there in the winter.

Perhaps its the damp and cold that gets it here, then, a fatal combination for quite a few plants really. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember something about Bignonoides sempervirens killing off honey bee colonies specifically, but I can't quite remember the details, something about taking the nectar back to the hive and it has some kind of toxin in it that kills them off. Unless I dreamt it...lol!

Well, all I know is that I googled "Gelsemium poisonous to honey bees", and found several sites with statements like, "All parts of the plant are poisonous, especially to honeybees." Scared me straight! Honeybees need all the help they can get!

That's a good enough reason to not deliberately plant it then, Tug, I'd have thought... think its native to US anyway, isn't it.

Bamboo: Yep!