Seeking some advice -Stucco climber vine - full sun, zone 7

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

Very cool idea of the tower and the faux vine !

Is this "vine" directly attached to the walls of the tower, or is it raised out from the walls to allow you to attach wires or other forms of "ties" to it for whatever you choose to plant?

Anything with "feet" which adhere to the stucco (i.e. creeping fig, Boston Ivy, or any other ivy, etc.) is pretty much going to be permanently stuck to the stucco if you choose such a vining plant, and will eventually cover the whole thing...unless you want to constantly be getting up on a ladder to contain it and keep it from spreading. This can also present a problem if/when you ever need to paint.

I would think you want to be able to still see some of the wall of the tower as well as the faux vine ? Any creeping vine with feet will obliterate it in time, and a vine with tendrils will need something to twine on, since they won't cling to smoothe stucco very well. (I'm assuming the stucco is "smoothe" ???)

Would you consider one of the smaller, less overwhelming climbing roses? Even when they're dormant, they will add to the faux vine effect with their canes.

You could also "espallier" some sort of shrub (evergreen, like you said...) up the wall, but you would have to put some sort of anchors into the wall itself to hold it up while it's growing.

What direction does it face ? This will also determine what will grow there.

I'm not familiar with your climate enough to know what exact plant(s) to suggest.
Some of the camellias can be espalliered, as can some of the varieties of apples, as well as Evergreen Pear., but not sure of your temperature extremes.

JasperDale has some very good suggestions. I would not start any of the vines growing on this beautiful tower. In time, they will be thick and overwhelming. Your facade is beautiful as is. A climbing rose would be gorgeous without being troublesome. I have both Boston Ivy and Virginia Creeping growing on a large stucco wall in my yard. It looked great for three years. Now it's overgrown and unruly looking. If I try to remove a portion of it, the stucco finish comes off with it. By late summer, the bugs have eaten the leaves to the point that the entire thing looks diseased and ratty. If a vine is what you really want though, a friend of mine has a hardy hydrangea vine growing up her stucco home and it looks great all the time. It's best if you have a support that's strong and away from your wall by a few inches. Whatever you do, your house will look great!

I think whoever came up with the idea of the faux vine for that tower should be given a Nobel prize ! It's absolutely fantastic and looks fine (to me, anyway) just as it is. You could do plantings at the base and the sides and leave it alone. It makes a statement without anything growing up on it. I love it.

Hello ecoali! I lived most of my life in Foresthill (now in Arkansas), on the other side of the North Fork American River canyon from you. A climbing rose would not work as it needs support and will not cling. If you do decide to put a vine on it, Boston Ivy may not be a good choice either, as it tends to do poorly on sunny walls in warm climates. maybe wintercreeper (euonyomus fortunei: it's also evergreen), English Ivy (hedera helix), which can be too vigorous, and will try to grow into windows or under shingles...campsis(trumpet creeper) is great for stucco but you would eventually have to prune it alot, as it can get topheavy enough to tear away from whatever it's growing on-it also can send out many suckers(good or bad depending on where you want it... creeping fig can damage anything other than rock or brick....bignonia capreolata is not bad, it's native here on our property and beautiful in bloom...I think the only passiflora that is hardy enough is passiflora incarnata, another AR native, and here it dies to the ground each winter and never gets too tall....parthenocissus quinquefolia (virginia creeper) is not a bad choice, but it can be extremely aggresive, we have it here on the property also, I don't know of it's ability to damage stucco, but the birds love it!(also deciduous)...in any event you'll probably need a clinger, not a twiner unless (as stated in previous posts) you put something for it to grab onto. Good luck! I drove HWY49 many times up to GV and I miss the area.

Hi Ecoali
Beautiful house. Wishing you lots of days of happiness in it. Understand the need to shade it etc., I don't know anything about vines for your zone etc., but if I were to grow a vine I would give it something to attach to (like a screen of some sort anchored to the tower) to me it would be better than growing right on the stucco. The small vines I have make a mess on the outside of the house -even when growing on a trellis. I have seen tall trellises etc., built with a hinge on the bottom so the vine and trellis can be folded back for painting. Obviously there would be limitations to how wide it could be and so would not cover the entire tower side to side and not totally take care of the sun blocking etc., that you are after. What I want to tell you is that I read some time ago that there are paints with ceramic beads built into the paint that insulate. Maybe you could look at this and leave your beautiful pained vine in place. With luck a local artist will take a fancy to your tower 'canvas' and create some blossoms, or bird houses, or even a big 'Jack" to climb up that beanstalk you have on there now!

Opps - forgot to tell you Hy Tech Thermal solutions is one maker of the hollow bead ceramic paints.

Hello -- thank you everyone for your kind words and many ideas! And sorry for my slow slow reply, been working way too much and had no time for email or anything home-related online lately!

Jasperdale: Yes, the faux vine is attached to the house, about half the diameter is 'sunk' into the wall...we definitely want to be able to see the wall and vine though fine with it peeking through the greenery - it sounds like the more vigorous vines though may be likely to cover everything entirely, which I agree with you, would not be ideal - thanks so much for your compliments, I occasionally forget what a brilliant creative soul my husband is, he dreamt it up, I helped with some aspects of the design but he is constantly coming up with ideas, it's great fun.
btw, you may be interested to check out a cool newly published (little) book that we just got, it demonstrates the great creative potential of ferrocement: Fantastic Ferrocement! by Peter Harris, an imaginative kiwi (whose website is www.eutopia.co.nz ) and it's really not so hard to learn. there's also a lot of videos on youtube if you just search for ferrocement, and finally, a listserve you can get on to learn more, at www.ferrocement.net, which occasionally posts info on classes (there's one coming up in Colorado in August on Faux Bois...) it uses a lot less cement than usual concrete structures so it's somewhat more 'green' also...

Growgirl59: thanks for your kind compliments, and we will definitely take that into consideration - and thanks for sharing your experience about the damage ivy can cause. I thought maybe with our winters being cold that it would be ok, but I think your winters in St. Louis are much more intense than here! We didn’t really like the idea of anchoring in supports up this big wall but could do as last resort if nothing else pans out...


Thank you PeachesPickett for the 'local' suggestions! I think we are likely to go with the eunymous fortuni –radicans, it sounds perfect.

Missingrosie: thanks for your kind words... happily, there is no paint needed on our house as it is a colored stucco, but it's good to know about that paint you mention for other things!

We really appreciate all your input everyone!! many kind returns, ecoali

Just thought I would mention that here in zone 4 land Boston Ivy is aggressive enough that it pulls stucco off of houses. It also totally covers them.

thanks for the links to the product you use. We are looking for a do it yourself version of venetian plaster and that may be the ticket! So much wonderful information on this site!

Thanks zenpotter - I was hoping that the veitchii woudl be less agressive but maybe best to forget that idea :(

Texas Lizzy - you are quite welcome - you might look into earth plasters, they are all natural and have really beautiful effects, and I think they make some that have a venitian effect - however I think it's interior only for the natural clays. see www.americanclay.com - also, just a note that the ferro cement is more a method than a type of product - it uses basically layers of reinforcement (like steel mesh) with regular mortar, then a color coat. Finish coats are really the thing it sounds like you are after and I think there is a lot of research on this to be found online. My husband is experimenting with methods but we havent really delved into looking at different products - we too would love to find a venitian plaster-type of finish coat! best to you in your creative pursuits! - ali

you are right about finish coats - here is a pic of columns which create the outer wall of our couryard in front.