I am in zone 14 also, although in Sacramento, so we get less wind. We have HOT days all summer, and cool evenings (I love summer evenings in this area of the country :). When we moved into our current house, it had 50(!) rose bushes, which were all really well adapted and seemed to thrive on neglect (of course, they didn't always look the best), so I don't think roses will be a problem for you unless the winds cause problems. I have had good luck with Dahlias, also, and see lavender and pansies everywhere around here. I am trying bleeding hearts for the first time this year, so I don't know about those, or fuschias.

The main thing I have learned to focus on in my garden, especially the full sun areas, is making sure the plants can handle the dry heat. I seem to do well when I focus as much on the heat tolerance as the cold hardiness, especially in our front yard with the south/west exposure.

Not sure about nurseries in your County, but if you are not too far from Sacramento we have several, including a few Capitol Nurseries, which are pretty good-sized and have knowledgeable gardeners on hand.

Hope this helps a little - just my experiences.

Thanks for the info. We're about an hour from Sacramento so a trip up there is not out of the question. I did just discover that there's an arboretum quite close to us that has a monthly plant sale so I'm probably going to start there.

On the fuschia - I was over at Hubby's Mom's place today and noticed that they have a HUGE fuchsia tree/bush growing in their front yard. They're a bit more sheltered than we are, though. But it does give me hope as I know that plant has been neglected for a while. Mom says it propagates easily so I'm going to give that a try (of course Mom is an expert gardener so her definition of "easy" is a bit different than most).

Get thee hence to Orchard's Nursery in Lafayette. In the faq section of this forum is a list of northern California nurseries, you are in driving distance to several of the best, Berkeley Hort, Annie's, Magic Gardens, The Dry Garden...

Here is a link that might be useful: gardens and nurseries worth visiting

You are just in time to go to a fabulous garden nursery spring party this weekend. Annie's Annuals & Perennials nursery is located just over the hill from you in Richmond. Visit the website for party details.

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's

For zone 9 CA consider Pakistan or persian or black beauty mulberries, gold nugget loquat, figs, pomegranates, asian persimmons, jujubes, Jupiter grape.

It's going to be a rough year to put in a garden, since mandatory water rationing is right around the corner. We are in our third year of drought, and even water-thrifty plants must be watered in during our bone-dry summers. You should definitely buy the EBMUD book, "Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates" - it's worth every penny, one of the best books ever for our climate.

Here is a link that might be useful: EBMUD book-Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates

Not all water-thrifty plants need to be watered here. If you look up your locally native plants on CalFlora.org and choose from among those, you should be fine. I never water my plants except the day I plant them and if I plant them in late spring or summer or they look like they might need it, a minute or two of water one or two or three times after that during their first year. After that, they're on their own, and plenty of them seem very happy with that. And my Sunset zone 8 has harsher, hotter summers than zone 14.

Here is a link that might be useful: CalFlora.org

OMGosh, you have to go to Annie's Annuals! A must, must, must! Elise above gave you a great link.