Vines on Trees

I've got Ivy, Virginia creeper and Trumpet vine on some of my dead trees. A clematis would look nice and is not too dense a plant.

Depends upon the tree you have in mind - species and size. Someone on here has Wisteria growing up a large conifer, which looks lovely.

Can I just advise AGAINST using Clematis montana - I made the mistake of planting this up a large apple tree and it completely swamped it. I'm now in the process of cutting it back out and, believe me, it's not fun :-(

Ivy is not good to allow to grow up a tree. As the ivy grows up, the leaves get larger too. I had several trees I had allowed to do this, then I read an article that said ivy was not good for a tree. So I cut it all at the base and it has taken several years for the vines to fall off. I keep it pulled off now. It encourages parisites to invade I think.

Ivy is not very good for trees once they get to the stage when they're competing for light with the tree's canopy - but on the other hand, it is absolutely brillient for wildlife - it provides evergreen cover for birds, it provides nesting sites for birds, it provides a hiding/overwintering site for insects and it provides nectar for a whole range of insects in summer.

What kind of tree? How mature is it? A rapidly growing vine on a young, slow-growing tree can have disastrous results. You might consider an annual vine for this summer - would give you a chance to test how you like it, it will die with the first freeze.

Thanks for all the suggestions and warnings. Mighty glad I didn't go ahead and plant ivy...which I intended to do. I like the idea of trying an annual vine this season, maybe I'll just stick to an annual each year. Any suggestions about a fast-growing annual vine?