By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Actress Julie Newmar, best known for her role as Catwoman on the Batman television series in the 60s (and still the funniest and most feline interpretation of that character, in my opinion) also has some sly ideas about gardening.

When she expanded her bathroom, pushing it out into the garden a foot or so and adding skylights overhead, she also planted a Thunbergia mysorensis vine just outside the window.  Newmar's intent was just to create green patterns on the other side of the pane, so that she'd feel more like she was outdoors while she was bathing.  But when the vine reached the top of the window in its third year of growth and found an opening — Newmar usually left the top inch or two of the window ajar — the plant poked a few flowering tendrils inside inquisitively.  "Well, hello, there," purred Newmar, encouragingly.  And let the vine do its thing.

Here's what it looks like today. The vine spans the window, has wrapped itself around the overhead beam, and drapes down nearly to the tub.  It's in bloom nearly year-round, says Newmar, and the large yellow and reddish-brown flowers are spectacular. 

"People gasp when they walk in here," she says. "The effect is so stunning."

Thunbergia mysorensis originated in India and is frost-tender, growing in Sunset Western Climate zones 16, 21-24, and H1 and H2.

It is not as widely available as orange clock vine and some of the other Thunbergias.  But you could order it from Logee's Tropical Plants. Or try the same idea with another evergreen vine.