I would recommend Hardenbergia violacea. It is drought tolerant, evergreen, no thorns, and blooms prolifically twice a year here.

HTH,
Trudi

{{gwi:393563}}

Nice! Thanks for the pic!

Unfortunately humster that plant will only survive to zone 9. I'm assuming you're in zone 5 in nm (northern nm?).

A trumpet vine certainly won't limit itself to 3 feet; not where I live anyway. I planted one that got bloated and overgrown and I removed it, and I was killing suckers from that thing for many years...

Some climbing Euonymous plants might fill the bill. Not real drought tolerant, but evergreen and not too overpowering. There are perennial forms of sweet pea vines that seem to have a 3 to 4 foot growth limit and take it pretty dry, with nice flowers this time of year. Nothing to see in the winter though.

Thanks for reading my post... I'm not exactly sure of my zone. I thought it was five, but it may be six. I am at almost 7000 feet in Sandia Park just east of Albuquerque.

Thanks for the info on trumpet vine growth. I mention drought tolerant because I am worried that I will kill anything that is not completely suited to the area. I think I underwater quite a bit and I'm trying to work on that by watering more deeply, especially early on and by using plants that can tolerate my sporadic neglect. I really enjoy gardening though and am trying to learn more so I can improve my success/failure ratio and hopefully enjoy the end results later on.

I really love the perennial sweet pea. The Euonymous looks pretty sturdy and may make a good starting point and then I can try a couple of other things. Thank you for pointing me in that direction.