Hi Mamajack,
by orange bells, I do mean the tecoma version of orange. The yellow bells for us become deciduous. I am surprised to hear the oleander gets deciduous for you. A few years ago, we had BF and my red(single petal) and white(single petal) and double pink did not get brown at all. My thevetia(yellow oleanders) did get down to the bottom and recovered slowly.

Well, cenizo could be used for that also, I think. Hi, fragflowers, welcome to you! A friend of mine has the orange tecoma stans and really loves it! My yellow Tecoma stans got hit hard this winter. Thought they were dead...finally came back really late from the roots and they haven't bloomed yet, hopefully soon, because I miss them so much! This past winter hit us hard, down to 13° one time and lots of freezes besides then.

my neighbor had a huge yellow tecoma that died this past winter after being here for several years. so those are just marginally hardy where i am in the first place.