Try penstemon, such as heterophyllus or pseudospectabilis. Mine are against sunny, south facing walls and seem to be doing just fine.

Salvia microphylla (many choices), cuphea llavea, salvia greggi (many types), marguerite "ruby slipper" have all done well for me in places where everything else fried and they are compact enough to fit your size requirements. There are a lot of plants that will do good in those circumstances.

Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara' (smaller version of Mexican bush sage), Limonium perezii, Daylily, Perlargonium.

Check out the plants from Native Sons. They sell to Armstrong Nurseries and they have many California-drought tolerant plants that you might be interested in. :) Their plants are labeled with the info and I have been very happy with all of my plants from them.

Ceanothus (early spring bloomer, mostly blue)
Manzanita (winter bloomer, tiny white-pink urn-shaped flowers)
Zauschneria (summer bloomer, red trumpet flowers, several upright varieties)

Yarrow and Echium 'Blue Bedder' are surviving in the hottest portion of my yard between a driveway and the sidewalk. Also Salvia munzii, lavender and Datura wrightii are doing quite nicely. All recieve only monthly watering.

Others that come to mind are
Agastache
Aster frikartii 'Monch'
Tuberose
Gallardia 'Fanfare' (and probably other cultivars as well, but I can only vouch for 'Fanfare')

wanda

Marigolds. I have mine in full sun next to the hot asphalt. A low lying beauganvilla might also work. The Mexican Petunia or desert petunia can also take the heat.

HEAT-LOVING, COLORFUL PERENNIALS:

Achillea fillipendulina WOOLY YARROW
Achillea ÂMoonshine MOONSHINE YARROW
Achillea hybrids HYBRID YARROWS
Agapanthus LILY-OF-THE-NILE
Agastache aurantiaca ORANGE HYSSOP
Agastache hybrids (many) HYBRID HYSSOP-MINTS
Agastache rupestris SUNSET HYSSOP
Alstroemeria PERUVIAN LILY
Convolvulus sabatius GROUND MORNING GLORY
Dietes FORTNIGHT LILY
Eriogonum umbellatum RED-FLOWERED BUCKWHEAT
Eryngium amethystinum BLUE SEA HOLLY
Eryngium variifolium MOROCCAN SEA HOLLY
Euphorbia characias wulfenii CHARTREUSE EUPHORBIA
Euphorbia x martinii RED EUPHORBIA
Euphorbia rigida MEDITERRANEAN EUPHORBIA
Gaillardia x grandiflora BLANKET FLOWER
Gaura lindheimeri GAURA
Gaura ÂSiskiyou Pink PINK GAURA
Helianthemum nummularium SUN ROSE
Hemerocallis DAYLILIES
Hesperaloe campanulatus PINK TEXAS YUCCA
Hesperaloe parviflora RED YUCCA
Kniphofia hybrids RED-HOT POKER, TORCH LILY
Nepeta ÂSix Hills Giant GIANT CATMINT
Nepeta racemosa ÂWalkerÂs Low CATMINT
Nepeta x faassenii CATMINT
Oenothera caespitosa TUFTED EVENING PRIMROSE
Opuntia microdasys RABBIT EARS
Opuntia violacea santa-rita BLUE-BLADE
Origanum x ÂJimÂs BestÂ, ÂRotkugelÂ, ÂSanta CruzÂ
ORNAMENTAL OREGANOS
Penstemon barbatus BEARD TONGUE
Penstemon centranthifolius SCARLET BUGLER
Penstemon eatonii FIRECRACKER PENSTEMON
Penstemon x gloxinioides (many) HYBRID PENSTEMONS
Penstemon heterophyllus BLUE BEARDTONGUE
Penstemon x mexicali RED ROCKS PENSTEMON
Penstemon palmeri PALMER BEARDTONGUE
Penstemon pseudospectabilis DESERT BEARDTONGUE
Penstemon spectabilis ROYAL PENSTEMON
Penstemon strictus ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEARDTONGUE
Penstemon superbus SHOWY PENSTEMON
Phlomis (many) JERUSALEM-SAGE
Pyrethropsis hosmariense MOROCCAN DAISY
Salvia chamaedryoides GERMANDER SAGE
Salvia daghestanica DWARF SILVER-LEAF SAGE
Salvia dorrii PURPLE DESERT SAGE
Salvia ÂRaspberry Delight RASPBERRY DELIGHT BUSH SAGE
Salvia reptans TEXAS GRASS SAGE
Stachys albotomentosa HIDALGO
Stachys coccinea HEDGENETTLE
Stachys macrantha ÂRobustaÂ, ÂSuperba BIG BETONY
Stokesia laevis STOKES ASTER
Verbena bipinnatifida SPLIT-LEAF VERBENA
Verbena bonariensis BUTTERFLY VERBENA
Verbena hybrids (many) HYBRID VERBENA
Verbena rigida SANDPAPER VERBENA
Verbena tenuisecta MOSS VERBENA
Zauschneria californica (Epilobium) CALIFORNIA FUCHSIA

(from my CD)
Joe

Crape Myrtle shrubs, Anisodontea, or Lantana. You can train/trim the shrubs as needed so you can see the stone wall through it.

Thanks, everyone! Very helpful! ; )

W.

I have various varieties of Rudbeckia and Echinacea in full sun. I buy the six-packs of them in the spring and plant them early. By summer, they are about 2 feet tall and equally as wide. But they bloom for a very long time. Mine seem to come back each year too.

Cosmos love the sun.

Black Eyed Susans!!! Mine are in full sun, about 3-4 ft tall and blooms last for about 2-4 months. Then prune ALL they way down and they are back again next year even bigger and better!!

Nemesia - blooms all year and handles full sun

Begonias - I have in the sum...just water regular!

I think your dilemna is more with the hot stone wall and its reflective heat. My DH built me a narrow raised bed against our light grey stucco wall that faces west. It fried several things I tried. It also gets sun from noon on. I had Lavender there that did great, should of left it! I am currently trying Salvia Perovskia - Russian Sage.

I love Eppidendrums in all colors and they don't mind the heat or lack of water or fertilizer.. They also readily seed themselves and bloom all year around in the ground or planters.. I have one garden with a big Lavender surrounded by Eppies and Sweet Alisum around the badr and it blooms all year around..

A carpet rose is not fussy, can take alot of heat and sun (provided it gets at least a weekly deep watering), and won't need spraying like some other roses. Carpet roses come in white, appleblossom pink, hot pink, red and coral. I have both hot pink and white, and they are tough little plants that are rarely out of bloom. Daylilies are also great in hot sunny conditions (they come in many sizes and some are evergreen, which is nice).

Becky

Abutilon palmeri
Lavatera assurgentiflora
Sidalcea malvaeflora ssp. malvaeflora
Salvia clevelandii
Gallardias
Eriogonums (I like red buckwheats)