hey Mary, this related post talks all about Tangerine Beauty Crossvine as well as others:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/azgard/msg1122491915993.html

you may be able to click to it here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Colorful Vines for Hot Desert (forum post in AZ forum)

just a fyi the ac units need to breath and they will be blowing hot air around. if you are successful and your ac units get encased by a vine you might be heading into some real expensive headaches.

Pauly, thanks for the link. I think that's the picture I remember that had me ear-marking the Tangerine Crossvine. Summer Winds on Bell has some good looking specimens.

boids, thanks for that heads up. My hubby is a former hvac man and he would never allow that scenario! :-)

The trellis is a couple feet away from the a/c unit. I can train the vine in a different direction.

Yup, mine love full, insane, hot sun and look good every single day of the year. Great, fun plants! Let us know if you get them and how they work out for you. I think they're one of the best evergreen vines we can grow here. Happy gardening!

I went back to Summer Winds, they had 4 plants, tall and in 5-gal containers. But they looked dried out and frail. Which could have been okay except the price tag was $50 so that was a no go. Got a Caroline jasmine instead for $13 in a one-gallon. Hope to get it planted today.

Thanks Grant - you enabler you!!