Morning Glorys are fast growing and they tend to self seed. The flowers aren't bad either. If you want a perennial, Virginia Creeper is a nice vine. Although it doesn't flower, it stays a nice green all summer and then turns a brilliant red when the frost hits it. Marg

Prairie Travlers Joy is fast growing & hardy . Has lots of white flowers and then fluffy seed heads.Golden clematis grows like crazy with yellow flowers and same fluffy seed heads. Nothing kills this plant.

I love morning glories and ideally would love to have a mix of them and climbing Nasturtiums, but haven't had any luck getting them to self-seed at all.

I've considered both virginia creeper (love the red!) and golden clematis. I know they both grow well here - the clematis actually grows along the fence by the railway tracks, so I could get seed there no problem. Does it grow easily from seed? anything special for germination, or if I can get my hands on cuttings would it grow well from them, like the virginia creeper does? How tall will it get? I've only seen it get to the top of a 4 foot chainlink fence, but I'm assuming that's because it has nothing else to grab.

Whatever gets planted there will have to be able to tolerate getting whatever moisture mother nature gives it, as well as withstanding direct sun from noon onward.

Vikki

Believe me Golden Clematis can with stand ANYTHING. I got my seeds froma local sort of Zoo where the plant was gowing in dry clay in full sun.Wet doesn't bother it either. If you can find rooted vines take them up and plant them. I think they'll keep climbing as long as there is something to hang on to. I also have Golden Hops which are extremely hardy and grow from ground up over 20ft in a summer.Clematis grows easy from seed.I too tried Morning glory but it did not reseed. Too cold I think.

I guess I'll have to give it a shot. :) Maybe I'll go with a bit of the Clematis and some of the Virginia Creeper.

I was thinking of Hops, but if it's an annual, it's got to be something that self seeds under nasty conditions. I don't mind coddling them for the first year, but this wall gets so hot at times that the weeds wilt and die. The only thing that seems to be happy there is the purselane... if only I could train *that* to climb the wall.

The main reason for wanting vines there is because the building doesn't have central air and due to local bylaws, it's nearly impossible to have it installed (too close to neighbour's houses, gas lines, etc) and trees for shade on the west side are equally inconvenient. The garage has a similar sun exposure, and a variety of vines growing along the west wall, and at 3 in the afternoon is actually cool to the touch behind the plants. The trouble is, none of them would live along the house because it's so dry. I grew some morning glories, scarlet runner beans, and climbing nasturtiums there a couple of years ago, but had to thoroughly water them twice a day in order to keep them alive. That doesn't work well with the xeriscaping in progress in the rest of the front yard. The rest of the plants have managed without a garden hose, I'd rather not make exceptions.

Thanks for all the advice, folks!
Vikki

Hops are perennials. It's just that they come up from the ground every year.They just use their old vines to climb on.Extremely hardy.

If Virginia Creeper does not get a good amount of air ciculation it tends to get infested with White Fly. And I'm sure you don't want that. I had some on my garage wall and ripped it up as every time I touched it a whole bunch would fly out. Hard to get rid of too.

I would suggest Wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) as it is an annual that re-seeds itself readily. I have it growing over a couple of arbours and it grows quite thick and tall.

Oh, the cucumbers look nice. From what I can find, they can handle the winters around here, too. Most "hardy self-seeders" take one look at -50 with the windchill and drop dead on me. :-/

Vikki

Yes I agree . The wild cucumbers are a great choice. Seed out and easy to pull out if you don't want them. When I grew up in Northern Ontario that was the only climber any one had. We was POH folks.

I'm a bit unclear if you have a trellis or not, but there are two closely related types of virginia creeper and one can climb the stucco wall without a trellis, and the other one requires a trellis (the first type has tiny suction cup feet that cling to stucco). At any rate, you can't beat them for hardiness and toughness. I cut one down, sprayed with roundup, and it's still sprouting years later.

I had a golden clematis (clematis tangutica 'radar love') that I was able to plant from seed. It lasted many years and grew despite the fact that it was grown in gravel soil by the carport. Definitely a tough vine.

I would recommend against honeysuckle vine (ones like mandarin orange or dropmore scarlet). I have one in a dry situation on the west side of the house and it's prone to aphids each and every summer. The plant gets all sticky sap looking and infested.

Glen

The more I look into the wild cucumbers, the more it appears that they need much more moisture than they're likely to get. The area in front of the house is about as far away from "riverbank" conditions as you can imagine. There's still a spot in the yard that they'd probably do OK, so I'll still try to track some down anyway.

I'll definitely need a trellis for whatever I grow. I know how hardy the Virginia creepers tend to be - my sister calls them "Virginia Creepie" because they had pulled a whole bunch out of a stand of trees and left them in the sun for the rest of the year to dry out before trying to dispose of them. The following spring when they went to haul them away, they were taking root in the gravel and had new shoots. THAT's my kinda hardy!

Vikki

I grow Clematis Radar Love. The vines are hardy - no need for the plant to start from the bottom again every year. I had it up against the south foundation, inbetween 2 bay windows and under the overhang of the house. It grew extremely well, reaching 12' in no time. I had a 6' wide by 12' high iron trellis and it covered it completely. I keep saying 'had' because this year I took it down - just a little too vigorous for the location. I still have several on the fence. I really like this plant. Very easy from seed, I'm usually pulling up several volunteers throughout the summer months.

I'll second the wild cucumber and Clematis tangutica. The latter even handles Calgary with its wild chinooks.