Not sure what zone you're in, but here's some I've used in frost-free coastal Northern CA, zone 9:
-hunnemannia, Mexican tulip poppy. Looks like a clear yellow poppy but isn't, evergreen perennial flowers continuously here, very xeric as it needs to be dry in summer while in bloom.
-lantana, both shrub and vining. Shrub types tend to disappear in winter as they don't like cold and rain. Very stiff, brittle but short stems are resistant to wind damage. Also very xeric and everblooming
-annual lobelia or groundcover ageratum will give you lovely cool blues, need shade and water as they sit at the feet of other plants
-groundcover roses (sold by Monrovia and Jackson & Perkins, among others) note they do have thorns, but are tough and very pretty
-phormiums are wonderful in pots with other plants, although mine grow so fast they usually force the other plants out; I've had good luck mixing them with snapdragons, houttuynia vine, and dusty miller (senecio, not centaurea)
-lotus berthelotii is great in a pot by itself, always hungry and thirsty but not bothered by wind and those flowers are not only sensational, they just keep coming.
-abutilons are touchy plants but if you get lucky, they'll give you some height, lovely flowers, nice lacy appearance that withstands wind.
-any of the ornamental grasses, particularly the great Pennisetum 'Rubrum' (which is sterile so you won't be seeding everybody's property for miles around) With a lot of wind, you'll want to stick to short-stemmed bulbs (dwarf dahlias, for instance), or taller plants with flexible stems such as the wand flower, Dierama pulcherrimum. Shrubby types like osteospermums won't be bothered by winds, either. |
