Steve - What about Russian Sage & Yarrow in that brutal area where nothing can grow? I have that, plus irises in my one lone rock bed that gets next to no water during the warm parts of the year. Only time it really gets moisture is in the winter.. and that's because I pile the snow from the driveway there. This year due to the 4' snowbank, the irises are blooming & the yarrow's thick. I didn't even know I planted a butterfly bush in there until a few weeks ago when I saw it & recognized it as not being a weed!! Granted, I don't see the extreme temperatures that you do, but my altitude makes up for that. 90 here is way worse than 90degs at 3000 ft.
The mountains got some snow this past Monday when it snowed. However, I doubt it's going to last any time soon as today's gonna be in the 80s here, which means 50s there.
It's supposed to rain again tomorrow through this weekend. I think that's a Mother's Day tradition, be gorgeous up to Mother's Day weekend, then be crappy for the whole weekend. I don't really care, I'm not a skinMom.
