Luecantha and other salvias are our favorite for late summer and into fall. They attract hummingbirds and many insects. Bumble bees stay on the flowers during the night. We had a milder than usual winter last year and the ones we had last summer survived so we put in several more plants in the spring. All have grown and bloomed identically. I put chopped leaves mounded over the bases of the plants in the fall and removed it in spring. EP

Well... I have two thoughts on that. >smileI do know that they'll take some shade, and as with most plants in the desert, they'll probably thank you for making it shade in the afternoon, sometime between 12-5pm. The ones I had in the ground got nothing after 1:00 or so. Before filling pots with soil, I take some of the sheets of styrofoam that you get in packing - about 1"thick, and place them around the wall of the pot where the sun is the strongest. I tend to think the soil gets pretty warm *any* way, but it does help some. I say try it, see where you get!

Thanks, Kathy. Thyme2, You may want to try annual tropicals that will grow off in one season, for instance gottagarden grows castor beans, rather than trying to hold tropicals captive inside through a long, cold winter. A tropical look using annuals is easier to achieve than growing true topicals in a cold climate. The Iversen book on tropicals in a cool climate is one I recommend. Fifteen degree lows here means that on a single morning or two, freezing nighttime temps may suddenly dip to 15 just before daylight. As soon as the sun comes up, the temperature goes right back above freezing. The ground doesn't freeze and the roots of tropicals are snug under mulch.

Salvia guaranitica Black and Blue is a taller salvia that blooms nonstop for me and is very hardy. Ditto for salvia leucantha which blooms later in the summer and early fall. Baptisia australis is another dark blue flowering perennial that is drought tolerant. It blooms in mid spring but then has blue-gray leaves that are attractive and then you get the black seedheads later in the season. Although not tall and spiky, you could always have one of the many purple clematis weave its way through your roses.