Red amarathus will do fine since they are ready in a short amount of time during summer. With the gourds, if you are using them for food when they are immature, you probably have enough time. If you are intending to harvest the mature ripe ones for things like bird houses, I would suggest ordering your seeds right away and plant them asap. My luffa gourd took FOREVER to get going this year.

Post this question on the very active Arizona forum. They will have the answer for you. I do know that some people plant tomato plants in Arizona in February, since I go there at that time, so I bet you'd be OK starting them now.

If you go to the monthly "show us your gardens" thread, you'll find photos of what various folks are growing. I don't generally grow grasses, but I do grow ribbon grass in a container. I started doing this since it spreads badly in a regular bed, but I like the way it looks in a container. I then put containers nearby with other plants for contrasting foliage and flowers. None of the plants in the vignettes from my garden below are particularly uncommon, but the foliage contrasts give them a long season of interest. Though they are growing in the ground, these would work in larger containers. I like the contrast between the deep green of the hosta and the flowing gold of the golden Hakonechloa grass. The dying columbine foliage just adds a bit of color that could as easily come from a Heuchera. From June 2010 The old-fashioned Geranium sanguineum has woven itself around this yellow-flowered daylily which begins blooming around the time the Geranium flowers end. The Geranium's flower color is echoed a darker shade by the Euphorbia, but I mostly love the way the daylily foliage sort of explodes out of the Geranium. From June 2010 This is a terrible photo, but I like this combination of the large blue-green hosta, the delicate-looking cranberry which would trail over the side of a pot, and the white-edged Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice' which blooms for me all season with tiny scented white or pale lavender flowers. From June 2010 If you use the search function near the bottom of the main New England forum page and look for Bill _RI_z6b he has posted some photos of his gardens and you can get an idea of some of his plants. For what you plant in containers, the general rule of thumb for selecting perennials is to chose ones hardy to 2 zones colder than your zone since they will freeze deeply without the ground around them to insulate them. My containers that stay out year round are wooden whiskey half-barrels and clay chimney liners AKA chimney tile. The chimney tile is buried a 6-8 inches deep to keep it upright, and it is bottomless. Craigslist or Freecycle might be a good source of damaged chimney tile. I haven't found that metal or plastic pots stand up well to the weather since they sometimes have split on me, though perhaps heavier metal or plastic would do OK. I have heard that the foam fake terracotta pots do well, but I haven't tried them. Before buying plants mail order, check with the G*arden W*tchdog (replacing the * with a) for honest reviews. You'll find that White Flower Farm varies in quality, and you can often get better quality for less $ elsewhere in my experience. I will second ctreynards's recommendation for Brent and Becky's bulbs, however. I also have done well with mail order from Avant Gardens. http://www.avantgardensne.com/

chris, Do you know, I also wouldn't give up entirely on your seedlings (unless you already composted them). Drench them and put them in the shade; keep 'em wet. I had a flat of peppers shrivel up so I'd given them up for dead a few years back when I had to leave for a family emergency and there was a, um, miscommunication w/ my DH about what "watering" seedlings meant. I soaked them just for the heckofit without expecting anything, and about half of them revived and caught back up in a few weeks. Anyway, good luck! There are places that send heirloom seedlings by mail order, too. Z