Drought-Tolerant Vines

Flowering Evergreen Vines

• One of the sweetest smelling evergreen vines is confederate or star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), a 10- to 15-foot climber that's covered in starry white flowers in the spring. It's drought-tolerant once well established and is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant zones 8 through 10. Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) quickly grows to 30 feet. The fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers attract hummingbirds into the garden and appear from late spring into summer. Crossvine is hardy in plant hardiness zones 6 through 9 but is semi-evergreen in colder parts of its range. Caroline jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) spreads 20 feet or more and is covered in bright yellow, fragrant flowers in early spring; hardiness depends on the cultivar chosen but most jessamines are hardy in zones 6 and warmer.

Flowering Deciduous Vines

• Coral vine (Antigonon leptopus) easily grows to 30 or 40 feet. In summer, it's covered in white, pink or coral flowers. Hardy in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 through 10, coral vine dies back to ground level in zone 8 and needs winter protection over the roots. Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is a native vine with bright reddish-orange, trumpet-shaped flowers in midsummer. This vigorous vine is hardy in zones 4 through 9. Two types of honeysuckles (Lonicera) tolerate extended drought periods: coral honeysuckle (L. sempervirens) has coral, red or yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers and is hardy in zones 6 through 9. Goldflame honeysuckle (L. x heckrottii), hardy in zones 5 to 8, has pink or purple tubular flowers. Neither species is invasive.

Non-Flowering Perennial Vines

• Several species of the Parthenocissus genus thrive in dry conditions. Boston ivy (P. tricuspidata) sports three-lobed leaves and is the ivy associated with New England's ivy-covered colleges. Fall color is clear orange or red. Native Virginia creeper (P. quinquefolia) has five leaflets and is often confused with poison ivy, since the two plants grow in the same conditions. Virginia creeper leaves turn dark wine-red in the fall. Both Boston ivy and Virginia creeper are deciduous and climb by means of twining tendrils and suction cup-like holdfasts.

Annual Vines

• With big, star-shaped flowers and a sweet fragrance, morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea, I. tricolor and hybrids) and moon vine (I. alba) are show-stoppers wherever they're grown. They need full sun to bloom well and thrive in dry locations. Both morning glories and moon flowers have blooms that last only one day, but the vines flower for several months in summer and early fall. Day-flowering morning glories are usually pink or blue, while night-blooming moon flowers are white. Another drought-tolerant vine is nasturium (Tropaeolum majus), which comes in many forms, including bushy dwarfs and 15-foot vines. These free-flowering annuals need full sun or light shade and do best in dry, lean soils. All parts of the plant are edible, with a peppery taste; the flowers are usually yellow, orange or red.