Daft question about clematis

I was just reading about clematis montana and realised I could train it up a tall column to grow in front of the street light that dominates the view across the Berwickshire hillside from our garden.



If I did that what would happen when it got to the top of the structure I gave it to climb? Would it stretch the across and climb on the light? I don't want the council getting upset with me for growing climbers up a street light :D Does clematis like that need pruning near the top areas? Although we are much higher than road level at that part of the garden it's still quite a height to disguise

 

That's useful that it's in a group that doesn't need pruning. I just checked up about the groupings (new gardener, so many new concepts to grasp )

I wonder how close it has to be to make the leap... I'm guessing it 'feels' closer to me than it really is by the time the elm/privet hedge is taking up space between them. Six feet perhaps.

Perhaps I shall ponder on it and see what other options there are. It was a totally new idea when I saw a photograph on google image seach for clematis montana :D Up till now I've just sort of accepted the street light as it is and my sister did point out that some people pay a fortune for the floodlighting my garden receives

Can't take much credit for the garden I'm afraid as we only moved here six months ago. I planted the orange pansies and the red Geum but the rest I inherited along with a nearly 98% coverage of ground elder. So, actually perhaps I can take a little credit for the lack of ground elder in that bed. I was out there rain and shine nearly every day for weeks taking out new bits when they showed their heads.

 

Piffy, you would need quite a structure for a Montana to climb to hide the lamp, you also need to take into account the weight of the plant as well, especially when wet. Do you know how tall it would need to be?

 

Any chance of pruning the Lamppost?
An Ivy might be better to climb such a structure. The Montana will probably throw out side shoots that would bring it down with the weight

 

As one novice to another, how about this idea. Why not grow a poplar or silver birch in front of the lamp post?

Both are quite fast growing, and in the case of poplar, there are hybrids that grow very quickly and their growth habit is to grow vertical rather than spending too much effort bushing up, so you end up with a fairly narrow columnar tree. At my last house, from the back windows we could see right across a valley (not as pretty as it sounds - the view was of the city and and the industrial estate). Between us and the valley was a street with a row of poplars that were about 6ft tall when we moved in. When we moved out 10 years later the poplars were easily 50ft tall and had been topped several times by the council.