Allison - did you start them from seed or from plants? I've figured out that buying larger plants from a nursery .. for some reason they NEVER survive. If I buy little bitty plants, they do just fine. Big plants just don't make it. I had 3 in my mini-rose bed that outgrew the bed last year so I moved them. One of them was humungo purple (these are agastaches, btw) that ended up being about 5' tall & 5' wide (honest to goodness) and 2 of them were the Coronado agastaches that were only like 3' tall & 2' wide. They didn't like being transplanted, but they did make it through the summer/fall. Hoping they'll make it through the winter, too. I've bought lots & lots of agastaches from a LGS (Tagawa Gardens) that were in the 2quart pots & were HUMUNGOUS, but not ONE survived. The little bitty dinkie ones in the 1pint starter pots always took off! Go figure.. I think it's the fact that the humungous ones are over-sized due to the hydroponic way they're grown (MASSIVE amounts of roots crawling out of the bottom of the pots) and aren't ready to survive in the "real world" situation. A few years ago, Home Depot actually had quite a few salvias in their "$1" pots and I bought quite a few.. for a buck how can you go wrong? "Wild Thing" & "Navajo Purple" did quite well, but I think they're only biannuals as they didn't come back the 3rd year.
One thing I wanted to throw in is Penstemons. There's quite a few penstemons that are gorgeous, easy to grow, attract hummers, xeric or likes moisture (types of each), and are very tough plants! I love Pineleaf Penstemons (they come in both red & yellow.. I prefer the red, personally)
http://www.highcountrygardens.... , Bridge's Penstamon
http://www.highcountrygardens.... . Another great one is Orange Carpet Hummingbird Trumpet. Love this plant!!
http://www.highcountrygardens....
Chelle - (didn't see your post until I posted this) If you have a wet area, try Joe Pye Weed (
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/b...) or Bee Balm (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...). LOVE those two!! Hardy Hibiscus are also great for late summer and all will survive in your conditions (if I can grow them, YOU can grow them :D :D :D). Bee balm comes in many different sizes from little 1' plants to monster 4'ers and from light pink to purple to red!
