Hot and ARID, yes. Humid, no. It quickly outgrew a fifteen gallon can, hit the soil under it and took off running. It performed as a climber, producing very long, incredibly prickly wands which performed like a climber in that garden. We finally tied it into stakes driven into the ground and trained it like the climber it wanted to be. I can't suggest what the black spot resistance might be in the type of conditions you describe, but it had pretty good resistance in 10b Los Angeles.