Seems every year at least one mystery plant turns up. If I can't identify a seedling as a weed, leave or pot it up till it blooms. A Virginia spiderwort (Tradescantia) that flowers a striking shade of blue appeared a few years back in a sunny bed. Left it to make a nice clump before relocating it to shade at the foot of a maple clump on a slope. Promptly died back to regrow the following Spring. Imagine the maples' fibrous roots & natural leaf mulch keep it from spreading, and the blue is quite refreshing glittering from the shade. Last year seedlings emerged for the first time near the lone phlox David. Potted up, one bloomed lavender - David's Lavender. Another time, a different looking wispy grass clump showed up with delicate stems that only reach a few inches high & wide, producing a cloud of pale pink flowers at the top like miniature Gypsophilia from Spring till frost. No idea what this is, looks like it may have originated in fairyland. Left to grow & seed, it turns up within a 20' radius of the original each year. A small bushy plant with deep green leaves appeared one year. Not recognizing it, left it to grow, as it seemed so happy. When it formed a 2' ball, decided it needed to be moved & found a spot in the backyard overlooked by the kitchen windows near a post birdfeeder. An old peach tree blown down in a storm had provided shelter for the birds there & thought the bush might do the same. The bush certainly took to its new spot. The next year, a slender trunk appeared out of nowhere to elevate the ball. Ten years later, it's a 20' high graceful tree, teeming with birds from dawn till dusk. Haven't found another like it in the woods for miles around, nor found its identity. We're in the migratory path for birds & an overnight waystation, so perhaps one gifted it to us on their way through. Many more surprises through the years. So far this season, a sturdy seedling that looked vaguely familiar left in place quickly reached two feet high by a foot wide. Began to bloom yesterday, pale yellow with lavender pincushion centers - Verbascum. Grew its forebearer many years ago in another garden bed, but that one never returned the following year. The first was pale melon with lavender eyes. Is this one a seedling or a wildling? Regardless, serendipity always welcome!

If you want a wisteria, you should get a wisteria. There is a wisteria developed for zone 10 called the Blue Moon Wisteria. It's sold by Stark Brothers for $15.99 as of July 2017. (I discovered your post when I was trying to find one for my zone, also 10, in the foothills of southern California--rocky, sandy soil with ugly, hot weather and some cold snaps. Finally decided I would build the pergola first, but I have to find out if it has to be permitted. If it must be, I'll put in an informal cedar trellis instead. *ugh*) Keep in mind, the zone maps have to do with FREEZING temperatures. It's not carved in stone, and many plants that are NOT exposed to freezing (or non-freezing, as with the higher zones like 10, will be just fine--not like apples that need freeze hours. You need to know your plants (& area). If you're afraid that your plant will freeze, you can purchase gardening cloth to cover your plant in winter or while getting it started. The right kind will protect your plant from animals, certain amounts of freezing, and still ALLOWS water and sunlight through for very little $. (Short plants=cover gently and stake down.) Just don't use plastic (touching your plant). Think of your plastic wrapped fridge veggies--it lets cold right through. You can use a blanket or cotton sheet in emergency. Even a halogen lamp can save a small tree--just don't put the blanket/sheet over the lamp--hah!..fire! Be prepared. (Most folks won't go to the trouble of buying a can of anti-transpirant. [seals the plant from freezing for 3 months.] Also, some areas have their own personal weather because of land formations, building walls, even boulders, fences, & some plants or trees. Properly sheltered, plants can thrive. You could have perfect zone, but put a plant in dead soil (low microbes/fungi), under-water, over-water, etc., and it could die. The gov'mt is giving us an "odds" chart--does it include freak weather? I lived with small Passifloras in my dad's land around the farm. Never knew they grew as a big vine till this site. Loved them for their exotic beauty. All dad saw was "weeds." Sorry for the epistle, but Good luck y'all! P.S. Halfwaythere, for the cables you are considering using, there's a website that goes into rust, the breakaway strength & will lead you into stainless steel, coated, etc. (thecableconnection.com

Try searching under the correct species name, Distictis laxiflora. It is available in California thru several wholesale growers, and possibly mail order as well from the usual sources for tropicals. I don't know of any local nurseries in Palm Springs, but it should be pretty easy to find at a retail nursery such as Buena Creek Gardens in San Marcos, north San Diego County. As to a couple of other question on specific vines, the Senecio confusum is another wildly colorful twiner with vivid flowers, don't know the why of the name. Senecio tamoides is another rampant South African twiner with great fall/winter bright yellow bloom. The Petrea volubilis is much hardier than Sunset Western Garden Book states, it is perfectly happy against a warm sunny wall in zones 16 and 17, and mine blooms several times a year here in Berkeley, and was unfazed in the 1990 freeze at 25F for 10 days. However, young growth that hasn't hardened off will die back even without freezing temps, especially on young plants until they get some size. Another vine that is understated in its good looks, unfortunately not at all fragrant, but with beautiful graceful white tubular flowers is Oxera pulchellum from New Caledonia. There is also a new Solanum species from Suncrest Growers that is a good deep blue and virtually everblooming, and is simply labeled with the Mexico state it came from. This is one of my new favorite blue/purple blooming vines.

you know, this might never end. i worked about 10 hours in the yard today - my body aches. has anyone ever seen the PBS (mini) series, cranford? if not, i highly recommend it, especially if you enjoy period pieces. what a fantastic show. okay, no one steal anything else from me, i'm getting a complex and i can just feel the tears ready to fall. maryanne