No Water? No Vine.

Q. Is there any decorative vine which will prosper in Southern Nevada with no irrigation at all except what nature provides? The situation is the bare-looking north side of a wall where I do not want to extend irrigation piping.

A. There is no vine that will make it here without additional irrigation. We average 4 inches of water each year. I have seen it without rain here for over one year. That irrigation might come from a neighbor but it will not survive without some source of water.

We do have wild grape and some other vines that do grow along waterways coming from mountain runoff but they have water and grape roots can grow to depths of 30 or more feet.

The key to avoiding a lack of water is to either store the water in modified plant parts like cactus or have very deep roots that can tap into a water supply that we cannot see.