Lady Banks Rose? Bougainvillea?

Here is a link that might be useful: Vines for PHX

Thanks, FN! Grape Ivy sounds like a good choice. I'd love a creeping fig but they are supposedly very slow growers. Any idea if they might grow more quickly in an irrigated yard?

I have been trying to grow creeping fig for ten years! It's slow, but after one year it took off and covered the front of the garage. That freeze three years ago killed it back and it's remained in juvenile form ever since. I can't figure.

But once we cut back the dead wood after the freeze, it took quite a bit of work and paint to repair the adhesion damage. We have one of those three inch by twelve inch by 20 foot wood planks bolted on over the garage door. the vine got behind and BENT that thing!

Wow, grubby, that's testimony to the strength of plants. Guess I'll cross that one off. I just need something that will climb pretty fast.

Fast growing vine but doesn't grow enough to not require a sturdy structure to grow on...and evergreen. Don't know of such a plant. Will be interesting to hear of one.

All the vines I know of die back in frost and we have frost pretty much every year so not evergreen. Unless the area has some frost protection?

We have English Ivy on the north side of our house (no sun exposure) and it started off relatively slow but is now growing gang busters. It shows very little to no stress in summer and definitely will not get frost damage here in Phoenix as it is rated to MUCH colder than we can possibly get.

I know a lot of people use Algerian Ivy instead - it has a similar look but the leaves are much larger and seems to be more tolerant of our climate.

Just to note, we planted English Ivy we picked up from Baker and Berridge nurseries and NOT the common type you will see at Home Depot or Lowes - you can feel the leaves are much thicker and the plant seems sturdier overall from the local nurseries VS the thin, paper-like leaves of those found at the big box.

Good luck :-D