How about nasturtium? They thrive in poor soil and blossom all over the place. I had great success from seed last year and they climbed all over and into some hedges next to our garden plot with awesome red and orange flowers everywhere. Plus, you can harvest the blossoms and add them to salads. This year, I plan on trying to grow them on my front porch -- they put on such a show last year, and climbed about 8 feet high -- I'd love to have that happening in the front of my house instead of the back.

I am a pretty big fan of Malabar spinach. Not only does it have tiny, tiny cluster of white flowers, dark green and red leaves, it grows like crazy in the heat of summer AND the leaves taste like spinach when cooked. But definitely not when eaten raw. Here in ATX where it gets up to 110 with 90% humidity and a drought, ours grew up the poles of our pergola and all the way across to the other side. And it will never get out of hand since it does not fair well in the cold and dies at the first hint of a freeze. Just save a couple seeds, plant again after the last freeze of the spring and away they go.

Do you have some time? Clematis would be lovely, but IME it takes a few years to get established. And yes, Morning Glories are only a little invasive in the SF Bay Area. I have no problem pulling up the volunteers each spring and keeping them where I want. Ivy on the other hand...people who plant ivy here should be shot.

I don't think the morning glories would have been a problem for you if you had anticipated how big they would get and set aside the space for them - they're not evil like kudzu. But you want recommendations. How about native honeysuckle. Not Japanese honeysuckle, which is alien and invasive, but the red-flowered kind. I always see it in the Sunlight Gardens catalog.

I was going to suggest native honeysuckle as well.

You might try a black-eyed susan vine or day-blooming jasmine (the night-blooming is the super-fragrant one that people with allergies don't react very well to).

I'm in the San Francisco area and I vine wisteria, clematis, morning glories (purple, blue, white), day-blooming jasmine, roses (especially love the tiny Cecile Brunner variety), trumpet vine, loofah, and some food vines like peas - green beans - certain tomatoes. In part it depends what you'll be using for support and whether that can handle the weight - I have arches, the eaves of a house, and obelisks to use. If you want something that won't pull down woodwork you might stick with black-eyed susan or the morning glories (you just have to pull them out before they go to seed and spread).

I have enjoyed morning glories here in northern California every year. They're really not aggressive, or damaging, like wisteria or ivy. They're a vine, so they will climb whatever you plant them near. They are low maintenance and easy to remove in the fall once they die out. Perhaps a vine is not for you.

Last year I bought a climbing vine called Mandevilla from my local Home Depot garden section. It had gorgeous red velvety blooms that kept coming all summer and into fall. It was a variety that is supposed to withstand winter, so we'll see if it comes back this year. But even if it doesn't I plan to buy more to help cover my fence. It grew very quickly, wrapping itself around a trellis I set up, and the blooms kept coming, unlike my clematis, which bloomed once and then just sat there.

There are different types of morning glories - some are more invasive than others. The type I have here are a HUGE problem in my yard. They are incredibly aggressive and invasive - I have to pull them down off the tomatoes and the other garden boxes weekly or they choke everything out. The winter freeze doesn't kill the seeds; they come right back up.

On getting a good vine, it depends on whether you want a perennial that will come back every year, or whether you're willing to do something different each season. I love purple or scarlet runner beans, which grow quickly and put out gorgeous flowers. But you have to replant. I also love clematis, especially the fall-blooming varieties (although again, there's a native one that isn't terribly invasive, and an Asian variety which can be).

I suggest an unconventional choice: pole beans (ie old fashioned green beans). In the mid-atlantic region (fyi, I grew up in PA; live now in Boston-area) you can expect very prolific growth that will twine up and over nearly any support you provide. They seem to grow nearly out of control, but because they're annuals, you needn't worry about invasivness. My beans last summer were in a less-than ideal semi-shady spot and still outgrew my 12 foot poles. Like any plant, green beans have a few diseases that they are susceptible to, but I've always found them super easy to grow and don't need any coddling.

If you want maximum vine and leaf growth, try adding small amounts of fertilizer regularly throughout the summer, and the plant will probably put its energy into lots of leafy growth at the expense of setting fruit.

Whatever vine you choose make sure you check out how it grows. PLANT THE RIGHT PLANT IN THE RIGHT SPOT. If you follow this rule you will come out just fine.

I live in the midAtlantic, and though morning glories are gorgeous, they do end up everywhere, so if you don't want that, you'll be glad you junked them.
If the spot is sunny, native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is easy to grow as well as control with light pruning--plus it attracts hummingbirds! Carolina jessamine (Gelsemiun sempervirens) is good for shade, with a nice fragrance. Both of these are perennial (and nearly evergreen--expect to lose some leaves in winter, but not all), so you'll spend more up front but totally worth it, as some occasional trimming is all this will be needed.

Your neighbors thank you for pulling the morning glories, I'm sure. It isn't that the vine itself is so bad - it's the seeds! They get spread everywhere and there are thousands of them. Every year I pull hundreds of morning glory seedlings courtesy of a vine being grown three doors down from me.

For me, I like climbing hydrangea, but you need to be patient with it (it's a 3-year leap vine) and it does not like full sun. Here in north Texas, dappled shade is best. The great thing about it is that even though it gets huge, it is slow growing and doesn't damage the surface it clings to - it uses non-invasive rootlets that produce a natural adhesive.

I also love wisteria, but be sure to get the American native that doesn't spread by runners. It has no fragrance, either, unfortunately. You need a very strong support and for the love of Pete, don't grow it where the vine can reach your house, shed, garage, etc. It grows so fast, it'll be in the walls before you know it!

Heavenly blue morning glories are not invasive, at least where I am here in the Chicago area. It's the purple/pink ones that are bad. I can distinguish which is which right away from the cotyledons (first emerging leaves).

Anyway, I'm mainly writing to warn you against any invasives, particularly porcelain berry vine, which has beautiful leaves, and berries that birds love, but is hugely invasive, hearty and destructive to every other plant (including trees) that it spreads to. Trying to tame it doesn't help because birds poop out the seeds throughout the land. Please research whatever you're considering before planting it.

Check out Armitage's Vines and Climbers. There are thousands of beautiful and non-invasive vines out there. Or just take a trip to your local nursery and ask them what they like. My personal favorites are scarlet runner beans, clematis, and night-blooming jasmine.

Love love LOVE my black eyed susan vines... pretty little flowers in orange, yellow and white and they don't take over the yard.

I am also in the midatlantic (MD) and I have had luck with clematis and black eyed susan vine. Hard to tell from your photo, though, how much sunlight you get in that particular spot. The vines will grow but may not flower if there is not full sun.

I have a balcony garden and dont have a lot of space for bushy plants, and prefer vines on the walls and railings. I seem to have found similar ones to everyone else:
My top three are nasturtium, black eyed susan, and Morning glories (but i get the heavenly blue variety Lorelski mentioned is less aggressive). These three are always the first 3 i put in my cart when ordering seeds every year.

Contact the local county's cooperative extension service. Local master gardeners can give you local advice. (Google the county name and "coop extension service".)

Oh, if you plant morning glories (again, Heavenly Blue), interplant them with moon flowers - the flowers are stunning, have a beautiful scent, and bloom at night! (Also a noninvasive annual.)

I have no advice, but wanted to give you props for having the lead photo be of a vine tendril wrapped around an "Off" bug repellent bottle. Pretty funny, in several ways!

I love the Hyacinth bean vine. Look it up in Google to,see how pretty it is.

wisteria.

I didn't see anyone mention hops, but I'm thinking of trying it as a climbing vine on an arbor this year. It may grow larger than you want, but they are supposed to be cold hardy and grow 20-25 ft. If you're a brewer, even better since you can use the hops!

http://gurneys.com/hops-vine/p/10976/

Yeah, I am seconding passion flower. There was some growing on the chainlink fence in the house I used to live in in Seattle and it grew well in the shady spot it occupied, and made it through a couple very snowy winters. We had this variety, and it was great, although ours never got quite enough sun for the fruits to be that tasty.

butterfly pea vine is super easy, but you do have to maintain it. you can make tea from the flowers as well.

Carolina jessamine (jasmine) was evergreen for me in Corpus Christi. In west TX, it's still evergreen but not as lush and full. Crossvine does much better in the desert, and is evergreen with tangerine-colored blooms.