Using hardy kiwi as a climber for a pergola

I've pretty well decided to use hardy kiwi, Actinidia arguta, Geneva (2 female plants and 1 male) for covering a pergola I just built. The vines are described as being able to grow 25 feet or more. Has anyone had experience with using this plant to cover a pergola? Mine is 18' x 14' x 8' high. I'm in Texas, zone 7b, temps can range from low twenties to mid teens in the winter to 105F in the summer.

it will be amazing they will do well since they do like sandy well drained soil just remeber to water them well every week till established

Thanks for the input. I do have a heavy clay soil. I was planning on digging out a large area and replace it with a high organic and sand based mixture. Maybe I should rethink what pergola cover plant material I should use.

they do not like clay it maybe better to use grapes since they will grow in any kind of soil and they will cover pretty fast and they also will lower the temp by up to 10F under them so you may like the idea of a cooler place outside for your hot sun
attached is a picture of an arbor I have and I used grapes to cover it

Your arbor looks nice. I had considered grapes. We have three seedless table grape vines that are doing well, however, I have to spray them fairly freequently with sulphur due to severe black spot which can rapidly destroy most of the fruit. I know there are resistant varieties and should check into that more. I would like a concord vine, but for any grapes over the arbor I'm concerned about staining the brick underneath and attracting birds to this area of the yard. (See the forum on outdoor living, patios, pools for the photos of my current construction). I also like the orange trumpet vine. There are some negative aspects with this plant as well, but with our soil, I think its growth could be contained. I have seen this vine in our area and it seems to do well. I think wisteria might be another candidate. I'm open to suggestions for other plants. My desire is to have a rapidly growing vine that will cover the arbor fairly quickly, will tolerate clay soil, has large or fragrent flowers or be a good fruit producer, loose its leaves in the winter but provide good shade in the summer (and maybe grows abundant $100 dollar bills??). I know I have a lot of requirements but grapes, wisteria and trumpet vine meet most of these. The money thing would be nice but this plant is as yet unknown.

kentucky blue wisteria is nice that may work, orange and yellow trumpets would work

I also have hardy kiwi that I just got plus clay soil - I was going to pot the 2 vines together in a very large (22" heavy ceramic) pot - any idea if this will work? Or should each vine have it's own pot?

check to see how long it will take to attain that since I had some for three years and they only reached about four feet for very fast growing since they only gained about 9 inches per year maybe if you buy bigger plants mine came in 12 inch pots good root system bought two females one male , the male didnt make the first winter had to get a replacement the next spring under warranty

but I had a neighbor that had a huge one the blooms smell real nice and his was about 25 feet but along the fence

Pyromomma: I've attached a photo of what a single actinidia arguta can do. It's 35 feet to the top of that 3rd floor porch, and the kiwi is continuing onto the roof proper. There's a very vigorous grapevine with it, but it's only gone halfway up so far. The kiwi spent several years developing a huge root system before it began to bloom. It's my thought that in that 22 inch pot you will get only a rather stunted vine.

Skunkbay: It's my thought that a grapevine would be more satisfying on a pergola than the kiwi. If you prune your vine each year so that the fruiting stems are along the bottoms of the pergola's horizontal members, the bunches of grapes will hang down free and the leafy branches will up over the top. Kiwi will grow wild and droopy and generally drive you nuts.
As for the clay soil - I don't have any experience with growing kiwi in it, but it's my impression that they can pretty much put up with anything once they get a good start.