Are any vines native to Santa Monica, or Southern Calif.?

[Anonymous]

I have 6ft. cement walls on both sides of my house. I want to cover them completely if possible with greenery. I would love the vines to grow above the wall at least 4 more feet to block out neighbors. My concern is there is only 5ft. of space in between the wall and my house. I need vines that will not interfere with the walkway by growing to thick and that does well with a lot of shade. Any help is appreciated. thanks,laura </p>

[Anonymous]

Hi Laura - How goes your search? Trundle down to the library and see if they have a copy A Flora of Southern California by Philip Munz. It is a taxonomy key, but you may be able to figure somethings out. The audobon site in my book list message will be helpful as it does have a break down by plant type vines. I will see what I can find though. Ben</p>

[Anonymous]

Hi Laura, Ben Again, I have found the following for you to look intoSarcostemma cynanchoides ssp. hartwegii, climbing milkweed, it has white flowers.Clematis ligusticifolia var. californica, white virgins bowerAntirrhinum filipes, twining snapdragon, yellow flowers.Ipomoea purpurea, morning glory, naturalized non-native from tropical americas. purple flowers.Maurandya antirrhiniflora, little snapdragon, violet flowers. You may find horticultural varieties of these plants available for your garden. Ben</p>

[Anonymous]

Have you considered using Desert grape Vitis girdiana? I don't know if it is native in the Santa Monica Mountains but it can form dense patches in riparian areas in San Diego. </p>

[Anonymous]

Not an answer, just a similar dilemma except that I have only 3 feet between the house and the wall. I'm curious what you've been able to find and if any sources suggested shrubs/small trees suitable to train into espaliers. </p>

[Anonymous]

I live in Venice and just planted some anacapa morning glories, native to the Channel Islands as well as the So Cal mainland. I got them at the Theodore Payne Foundation, the not-for-profit native plant nursery in Sun Valley. It's a great resource for locating native plants, and they have a big event happening in a couple of weeks www.theodorepaynefoundation.org</p>