I am so NOT one of these great pros who have contributed on this thread, but since I live in a somewhat similar zone (I'm East Bay/Oakland hills so similar to much of the SoBay), I thought it might help the OP if they could see what a couple of the plants suggested look like on a retaining wall. There is one plant I didn't see, but I think might do well in this situation - aptenia "Red Apple" evergreen groundcover. It's rightly listed as invasive, but I have found that although it will spread "out", it vastly prefers going "down" due to the weight - once those stems get long, they're heavy and it pulls the plant to trail down. I have been surprised to find it does not root as readily along the stem as one would think (based on its invasive designation). Easy to keep under control with minimal pruning, very easy to remove. I have aptenia in two spots and in the location that isn't shown, it goes happily down a wall as far as it's got room, but only needs to be pruned back maybe twice a year on the flat side. It is much prettier than ivy and needs almost no summer water (like 1 gall per month in summer). Note that the cute red flowers attracts bees; some people find this a disadvantage. Me, I'm all for anything that keeps bees alive and happy, so this doesn't bother us. My wall is smaller, but the lantana shown (both white and purple) are in a very narrow planter box. Due to its lightweight stems, lantana is as prone to go "outwards" as it is "down". It is easy to prune - stems are brittle so they just break off. Because even trailing lantana mounds, it tends to die underneath. I have found this to be mildly annoying as a clean-up task every year: dusty and messy, LOL. Anyway, retaining wall 2001: Retaining wall plants 2004 (they don't look any different now, since I keep them pruned to stay off the driveway). LH side is the aptenia - a single stem can easily get to 5' or more. The purple lantana is in the middle, with the white lantana to its right. Both of these would easily reach the middle of the driveway if I didn't keep them cut back. I have to agree with the negative on clematis. It's a 1 month flower wonder in the Bay Area, and butt-ugly six months out of the year. I planted one and will never bother again. Hardenbergia 'Happy Wanderer' is gorgeous - two full months of purple racemes. But I did find the evergreen leaves a rather dull dark green the rest of the year. This is a big, heavy, aggressive vine. I had to take mine out because it started to travel over the fence and the neighbor hated it. It was a pretty little thing at 2 years old.... ...but only a year later, see that "hump" in the back? The hardenbergia was almost half as big in her yard as it was in mine, smothering her Bird of Paradise and euonymus shrubs: If you don't mind regular watering, there's nothing more fun than passiflower - after a few years you'll have Gulf Fritillary butterflies dancing in the sun for 6-7 months. It needs a grid of some sort, though, it needs something to hold onto to go sideways. I have both the coral and the standard purple passifloras. The GF prefers the purple very slightly over the coral, but I think the coral is much more gorgeous. This is a big vine (estimates up to 30'; I keep mine around 15') but it is very tough. I almost killed it when the planter box it's in didn't get watered while we were away on a trip. A heat spell hit and the passiflora shriveled down to a single stem of tiny leaves. It's recovered completely and is back to its big bully role once again. There's a lot of dead undergrowth to the passifloras over time, but not as bad as the lantana. There is one other evergreen vine I use but I wouldn't recommend it - Solanum jasminoides. Carefree and needs little water, but it gets super thick/dense very quickly and really requires heavy-duty cutting back once a year or it goes out of control. In the right location, however, it definitely fills a need. This is what S. jasminoides looks like less than 7 months after being cut back to a 1" height. Fair amount of dead-leaf litter underneath. This one lives entirely on runoff going underneath the house. I never water it at all: The flowers are beautiful, though, and it flowers almost continuously: I have the star jasmine groundcover in my furthest back yard area. It twines with big thick stems like ivy does, and with its mounding growth is, like ivy, a roof rat palace. Doesn't take much water, smells wonderful, prefers bright shade but I've had it in partial sun conditions where it did very well. Anyway, hope the visuals help.

One need not live in a tropical or sub-tropical area to be overwhelmed by plants! I hybridize Daylilies (Hemerocallis)and was not able to plant a single seed for three years as I was out of room to plant them out! I did try growing out several in pots, but Mother Nature took them all away from me last winter! Fickle lady, mother nature! I also am hybridizing the "Candy Lilies" and "Blackberry Lilies, which are actually members of the Iris Genus. I grow all types of Liliums and other perennials plus quite a few annuals that self sow and come back every year (mostly Snapdragons)and I save seed from good old Coleus and have several as potted plants as well as in ground plants of them. My outside garden begins to wake in late February/early March when the Snow Crocus and Grecian Windflowers make their appearance and continues until a hard frost knocks back the "Toad Lilies" and Mums. But then there is the indoor garden (that summers outside) and there are Tropical Hibiscus, several varieties of Lantana, various "house trees", numerous cacti and succulents, a few (12) Orchids, Clivia miniata and 15+ seedlings from mixed color hybrids and the Hippeastrums - 40+ named varieties a few mature seedlings from my first cross (a test and 70 or so new seedlings from last winter. Oh I must not forget the terrarium - a 55 gallon fish tank, that has 4 African Violets (2 minies, 2 standards and all are Variegated foliage) a Silver Spotted Philodendron and a small "Earth Star" bromeliad. While most of these "indoor" plants are grown under lights in the basement, all of my windows are also filled - and this time of year the hippies fill the space. Yeah, I know all about running out of space and there not ever being enough room to grow everything that I would like to! I even have space on a neighbors veggie garden for my overflow of Daylily seedlings and that still isn't enough! Most of my cacti and some of my succulent were rescued plants from Lowe's as were most of my Orchids (Phalaenopsis), I hate to see a plant thrown away because it didn't sell. Most of my Hosta were rescued from a dumpster as well as several shrubs and perennial plants! I can barely take care of what I have and I still want more! Here's a view of the basement light garden from winter 08/09: And this s just one side of one set of shelves!

I have the red super king, the trinidad is what I am after. I don't have a rooted white COT, I am just sticking it in a pot now for you, so you could stick a red cutting in a pot for me. :) If the yellow one is solid yellow, I'll take that too, and I am bring you a yellow & pink one. I also went back to HD and picked up one of those crotons for you. :)

A coincidence! On Sunday I too was travelling farther south and saw an orange flowered vine beautifully gracing an otherwise boring l-o-n-g expanse of chainlink fence. I didn't know what it was but wasn't in a position to stop and examine it more closely (and perhaps take a picture to post here). The only plant I know of blooming orange now is cape honeysuckle but the viny nature of the plant I saw from the roadway didn't match. Now you've ID'd it for me and I didn't even have to ask. Thanks. I've seen it during other trips south. It certainly is eye catching.