I wouldn't think the Boug's would survive a winter there unless very protected. Get a Western Garden Book or look thru one. There are tons of natives.
How wide is the bed and which direction does it face?
Boug's don't do well here in summer and you get hotter then here.

Bouganvillea survive down to zone 9. where exactly in zone 11 are you? the only zone 11 i am aware of in Cal are the areas adjascent to the coast (san diego, santa monica...) Everything else is z9 and 10 in southern california (which is where i guess you are)

Central-cali369, I think xoxo means sunset zone which is the high desert.
I have seen Boug's freeze here in my zone and also die from the heat in Sept.

There are several cultivars of bougainvillea. Many of them will not survive zone 9. There's a handful that can survive zone 9. I've had bougainvillea that survived the arctic blast.

The quickest research is to find a demonstration garden or native plant nursery near you that has similar conditions. Take a digital camera for pics of the plant and its name tag, and ask lots of questions - I've found they really like to help. Figure out your soil type with a 'jar test', and consider putting in french drains before you plant. Improving soil drainage and amending the soil is much easier with a blank palette, and pays off with thriving plants. =^,,^=

First, high heat in late summer/fall is not the reason that a Bougainvillea would die, these are perfectly adapted to low desert conditions with high heat, and I have seen them thrive in Saudi Arabia where it gets as hot as 125F for days on end. More likely it was lack of water, or the roots weren't able to tap a large enough root zone with moisture to keep up with water loss. The suggestion about adding provisions for drainage and improving the soil is essential for such a narrow planting area against a west facing wall in a desert climate, these conditions are very punishing to most plants.

Only one evergreen vine comes to mind for a hot west facing wall in a high desert location that freezes, and even this one can burn foliage in a bad freeze. Cat's Claw Vine, Macfadyena unguis-cati would love the heat and full sun as long as it gets some water, but it also attaches itself to stucco with suckers, so it may be problematic for you if you prefer not to have anything attach itself to the walls.
Trumpet Creeper, Campsis radicans or C. x tagliabuana 'Mme Galen' may also work for you, but they aren't evergreen, and would need a supporting trellis. You might also consider trying one of the Fairy Dusters, trained as an espalier, such as Calliandra californica(evergreen) or C. eriophylla, which is deciduous. Both would need continued training to stay flat and grow taller against a trellis/espalier, and are adapted to hot high desert conditions.

If you are close to Las Vegas, I would suggest you check out what the hotels on the strip are using, or visit the Las Vegas Water District's Demonstration Water Conservation Garden for ideas on what does thrive in high desert conditions.

Thanks everyone. I am in zone 9 using USDA guidelines and Zone 11 using Sunset guidelines. Sorry I didn't clarify.

Couple questions which I couldn't find during search: What is a 'jar test"?
The wall is facing west and we stay in the 120's consistently during the summer, I was planning on installing automatic bubblers, do I still need the french drain? Don't I want the water to stay there to support the roots? Whatever I plant there has to stand the scorching heat. As planned the flower bed is only about 2 feet wide and extends to the end of the windows.

The bougainvillea we have now faces west also but against a wood fence, it thrives with just the water it receives off sprinklers for the grass. We just prune it back. Thanks for the recs on the other plants I am intrigued by the fairy duster Calliandra californica. I will research it as well as the other recs and Las Vegas suggestion.

They install concrete on Monday so I am kind of in a crunch and I feel like a fish out of water. Any advice to benefit my poor flower bed? I am not against installing a pipe to lead to the front area (where I plan on planting some trees) in anticipation of a french drain if needed. I just need to pick up the supplies this weekend and inform the builder what I am doing so it is all ready on Monday. As far as size of the flower garden is it workable?

Thanks again and in advance for all you suggestion and advice.

Hmm? I just looked up french drains. This is a level lot I don't know how much benefit I will get from installing a pipe under the driveway if I can't get it to slope. They have already packed the ground where the driveway and cement is going so I will not be able to dig up that area. Any advice?

xoxomom,

A "jar-test" is a quick and dirty way of figuring out your soil's texture: Take a fairly large jar and fill it about half-way with soil, add a teaspoon or so of soap or detergent and fill it the rest of the way with water, then shake it to mix and leave it to sit for about 24 hours (heavy clay will take a bit longer). The soil will settle out by particle size and measuring the relative height of each layer (sand, silt, clay) will give you a reasonable estimate of your soil's texture.

The following was the first hit on a google search for 'soil texture test' (without quotation marks which google interprets as a command) Testing soil texture.

A professional soil test will provide you with a very accurate relative ratio by mass of sand, silt and clay while this gives you a (relatively rough) estimate by volume.

Ryan

I'm not much of an expert on what grows in the desert, so check the Sunset Garden book to make sure these won't freeze or anything...but here are some shrubs that I think might be worth looking into:

Salvia clevelandii would be great beneath the windows because it smells great, has blue flowers that hummingbirds love, and will thrive with little attention. It's not fond of clay soil, though...if you have poor drainage maybe salvia leucophylla.

Manzanitas are evergreen, have beautiful bark, and love being ignored after the first couple of years. Las Pilitas suggests arctostaphylos pungens for the desert, and it's one of the few manzanitas that tends to grow up rather than wide. They say it will grow to about 6' tall and 2-3' wide.

Cercocarpus betuloides or cercis occidentalis might need some water in the desert, and eventually some pruning so they don't get too big, but otherwise they're very beautiful.

I'm not sure from your post if it's in driving distance or not, but The Living Desert in Palm Desert has a wonderful desert plant nursery and knowledgeable staff. If you tell them you are just shopping at the nursery, they will let you in for free. It's a great place for ideas for desert gardening as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: living desert nursery

Nice bougie, Thomas!

Do check the dates on threads. This one is nine and a half years old.

Sometimes time is not an issue on threads as researching plants goes, I was grateful to read from experiences and settings esp micro zones of ones landscape needs .. So Love Your Purple Queen, Thomas too! I have an orange Boug that is a bright deep orange, Im in a 10a micro setting for it, as afternoon intensity suddenly upon it then later day til sundown fully in west blazing heat and the soil is sandy sortv a clay as is close enough to foundation, the only saving grace for it is that being morning condensation likely gives it some sustainance of moisture. It became a forgotten experimented twiggy thing lol after planting about say 2yrs of season cycles. Well, we had a drought as well during this time and we too had had some happenstance excess water there on it during the spring timing accumulate from a nearby piece of plastic just one certain weeks worth. IT WAS BLOOMING more Bolder than When we bought it!!! Discovering it still alive, we gave it some surrounding soil help/ breakup some hardness and watered with a barely noticeable vinegar amount solution of water with drops of white vinegar. Its going to be possible to be our privacy fence we needed Badly. We had a purple queen with no activity as well along a south fence, left it alone, not blooming we feel too low to get enough sun, then planted another PQ boug near but in more sun, it's fine and watering it in as well w one weak tweek of the white vinegar drops in water. The fuscia bougainvilea are almost invasive BUT MOST DEPENDABLE !!! The power company trimmed our fuscia HALF to death, it came back with a bloomimg Vengance LL!!! Good for it, though it's the one of the colors that's most thorny, only use it for keeping a kind of security placement plant away from people or where they shouldn't go. It seems too that planting depth is a sneaky seemingly adapted issue But one that is how success is acheived overall. We have planted Tibuchinas (Princess Bush an Asian/India tree that has african violet soft leaves and deep purple blooms/ isn't hard on allergies! and is semi-decidious) it is fussy only how planted /different situations and with tests came to realize how much it as with any plant any where how much you need to adjust the root ball as plant so it's in the right height/depth from the soil surface, it's immediate drainage-retainage for the plant's life and seems to help some doubtful plants cheat problems. It's an adjustment to watch for if failing in first weeks, a chance to replant it quick could help, as we did with these Tibuchina trees saved within a month, became showplants of neighborhood. Bougainvilea as attested, have determined tap root systems so reach down below the heat and make it so well without us understanding how, thus, in a planter I Would Never put a fuscia hot pink one against a house (again L! it's far too big anyway), the purple one grows smaller lesser thorn-harming secondary to it in activity plus will obey better, and very much can trust the deeper orange one to cooperate as well less and shorter thorns yet like PQ than the fuscia monsters!L/ LOVE THEM THOUGH as they can protect property and the Most beautifying even in drought!! ... These boug's petals are the solid colors, the boug with pastels petals of pinks and the gold ones are not much help coloring landscape or even bloom or height and tho have lesser thorns and train easier, I'd rather have that coloring and believe in the deep purple such as Purple Queen if want height almost the small tree size or the deep orange for sure it is workable and both bloom magnificently almost as much as the fuscia, if have a little nudge of help that you'll likely learn more as time goes with them. Bougainvilea are so rewarding they are addictive, help make the deep orange ones more prominent! I too relate with finding west faced plants and slender trees in narrow spaces in hot climate too, so yes, keep thread going. THANKS!!