I live in a sub-tropical climate, with hot, humid summers and mild winters.
I have a white rendered wall that gets close to full sun year round (it faces north- I'm in Australia )
Last summer I attempted to get some Ficus Pumelia started in some pots an effort to soften the wall up Thanks to my poorly timed planting I was unsuccessful: a few scorching days without water and they died off.
As it's cooler now I'm trying again. This time they are in the ground, in well-prepared soil with a covering of mulch.

Can I encourage the plant to climb?
The wall has an acrylic render with a whitewash finish which I'm concerned might make it impermeable to water and therefore not appealing to the fig.

Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts?
I'd prefer the fig over a braced climber like jasmine so want to try get something established before next summer.

Thank you in advance!

I see you have had no answer. Did your vine grow well this time?

Hello..I am located in the high desert of California. I moved from Washington state where it was obviously more humid. I bought a creeping fig to hang indoors. Lets call him Winston. Since the move to California, my fickle friend has mostly shriveled up and decided to hate me. He has indirect light in a room with a north facing window. I recently cleared all the dry leaves from his vines, and I added pebbles to the water tray to add humidity(??).. I have included a picture of Winston, as you can see hes a sad bloak. Any advise??

@Beeslayer I think this post might have needed its own thead-line. I believe what you have is an Epipremnum commonly referred to as 'pothos' or house ivy. It doesn't look what I've seen called 'Creeping Fig'.

If I'm correct, it does appear to be in bad shape. It might be that the stems near the soil level have life and will put out new growth. Mine does look similar to that after it comes inside during the winter months. I generally shear mine off and wait for new growth which has always come back in abundance. In case those roots are too impaired, then if it were mine I'd find green sections of the vine stems and try to root them - either in damp potting mix or in water. In my experience they will root fairly easily either way. I live in an area of low humidity, though probably not as low as the high desert, and it thrives. It also makes a great container plant for inside. I'm just a terrible caretaker for inside plants and have too many so it suffers in the winter months.

Here's a photo of mine from several years ago, but this s how it looks currently.