Hello Bill, I think everything on your list will grow in Las Vegas but perhaps not all will thrive. I tried echinacea because I love those big flowers but it did not bloom through the summer. I also tried the delosperma cooperi and it went away on me. I have had several different kinds of agastaches that I got from High Country Gardens and they grew and bloomed but never looked like thier pictures because the flowers faded in the heat until they were barely noticible. The salvias I have had good luck with and I grow Salvia greggii 'wild thing' that I just love as well as salvia officinalis (edible), salvia farinacea, salvia clevlandii (love the smell), Salvia Pachyphylla (California Native), and Salvia Penstemonoides (texas native), and salvia chamaedryiodes (true blue flowers). I love Salvia microphylla but they have croaked for me when it would get really hot. Guara does really well here and I have the white kind right now although I have had the pink form too. I have had success with some kinds of coreopsis but the threadleaf kind didn't make if for me and I don't grow any of them anymore. I had verbascum which I like but it was a two year plant for me and I like longer lived things. That said a plant genus you should really look into if your after showy flowers is the penstemons, I have penstemon parryi, baccharifolius, triflorus, superbus, and pseudospectabilis. They are great plants for here. A book I just got that is by Mary Irish the former director of public horticulture at the Desert Botanic Garden in Phoenix is called Perennials for the Southwest. This lady really knows what she is talking about so far as what will survive in the desert. Of course what I couldn't get to grow maybe you could, that's just how it works here. Oh, and I do try to put in a fall crop of tomatoes and hope for a late frost so I can get some before they freeze over. Early girl works well. Happy Gardening, Maria

Whoops, forgot the particulars. Saturday, September 10, 2011 9:00 AM-3:00 PM

Linda - I love the white mum! perhaps this is ignorant bu I had no idea they could come in that color. I'm going to have to look into that. Recently I have found myself wanting lots of small white flowers in the garden. I've decided that next spring we are going to plant some Irish moss (has gorgeous little white flowers on it) on the side yard in the shade. We have had decent luck with grass but some areas are a lost cause so I figured we can put the moss and some flag stone in the shadiest, wettest areas and let it blend with the edge of the grass wherever that happens naturally. I'm hoping by next year or the year after my gardens starts to look like yours! Hate waiting for those shrubs and evergreens to grow . peren.all & djacobs - thank you very much!

Where in the state are you? Because that makes a difference. As you can see from my username, I'm on the West Central Gulf coast, and my cool weather things don't come out until a couple of weeks before I'm ready to start something new - depending on planting dates in the UF guide. I only direct sow greens & legumes, generally, and lettuce and many other greens can also be started in pots and transplanted - many are pretty forgiving of that. Peas usually bear once and then they're done. You can tell because the vines start dying back. Lettuce can last awhile if you use the cut & come again method or just harvest outer leaves, otherwise, it doesn't grow decent side shoots after cutting the main stem, IMPE - neither does cabbage. Broccoli will usually sprout side shoots after the main head is harvested, and the amount and size of those varies depending on the variety. Tomatoes can keep producing if they are indeterminate, but not if they're determinate. Fertilizing after harvest will help with new production.