Beginner Gardening: Seeking some advice -Stucco climber vine - full sun, zone 7, 1 by ecoali

ecoali wrote:
Hi there -
I am quite new to landscaping, have done a lot of searching but not really sure what is best, would really appreciate any suggestions anyone may have. We have a newly built house with a 15 foot diameter tower on the corner - on the South side of this tower we are seeking to grow a vine that will stick to the stucco and not require support. We'd like it to climb up the full 32 feet height of the tower. We wanted an evergreen ideally or if not, maybe a deciduous vine with a secondary evergreen to grow up and cling to the one that dies down in the winter.

We are in Zone 7 and get really hot dry summers, moderately cold winters in the Sierra foothills. Our soil has a lot of clay, but we are going to build a decent sized (3x3x12 feet) planter with better soil... One of the reasons we'd like a vine on the tower, besides aesthetics, is for a little extra insulation from the really hot summer sun. The vine you see in the picture on the tower is actually made of ferrocement, we plan to plant the vine right at the base of the 'faux' vine...

Some that I have been considering are:
bignonia capreolata/crossvine - but a little worried that it will get huge and clumpy?
creeping fig - we love the look of it, but heard that it also gets clumpy and creates nests for rats etc!! not sure we should do anything invasive, though with our med-cold winter perhaps it is not as invasive as in warmer zones...a local restaurant has some on the front wall and it seems to not get out of control after a year or two...
boston ivy - not an evergreen but nice look rest of the year...could have a jasmine or something grow up it during winter?
passifloras - I love but for some reason not sure they will work in this case...
trumpet creeper? but not evergreen....
finally, my brother in law thought of Virginia Creeper - also not evergreen but he thought it was a safe choice, noninvasive, attractive - could grow up a clinger on it...

Any wisdom &/or suggestions? We would really appreciate it!!
-ecoali