Succulents like cacti are your best bet. Read Hot Pots: Container Gardening in the Arid Southwest by Scott Calhoun and Lynn Hassler and Succulent Container Gardens by Debra Baldwin.

For pots, the best kind to use are either galvanized or wood. Most metals get to hot and the ceramics dry out too quick. Good luck! Container gardening outdoors has proved to be a hit or miss with me, mostly miss........

Pam,

I started writing a big long message, before I realized that you're in Las Vegas, Nevada, NOT Las Vegas, New Mexico! I guess I'm so used to seeing New Mexicans on this particular forum, and maybe I'm a bit insular-minded or something.

Anyway, I can't imagine you would have much trouble as long as you choose things that can take the heat and you give them sufficient water.

If you'll be doing any sort of gardening in the West though, you should definitely have the SUNSET WESTERN GARDEN BOOK to help you sort through the dizzying array of species out there. It's mostly an amazing plant encyclopedia, but the plant selection guide in the beginning also helps you choose from categories such as "plants for dry areas", "cacti and succulents", "trees and shrubs for containers", etc..

Sorry that sounded like a Sunset ad, but it's always the first place I look.

By the way, for whatever reason this particular forum has been very very slow for a long time, so you might get better results in one of the others. Some of them have dozens of new postings daily and quickly get numerous responses.

Pam,
Soil in pots will dry out VERY quickly. This will be a big change from NY! ExoticRGVNativesTy's advice, to try succulents in those pots, is a great idea. If your realtor or a new neighbor can set the drip system to soak the soil deeply then you might be able to try something more leafy. Note: visit a locally-owned nursery for your plants, not a big-box store. The big-box stores are convenient, but the local nurseries always have the best level of knowledge and advice. Good luck!

I have been growing cold hardy cactus in pots in Texas. We have Had NO RAIN all summer and 100- 112 degrees since may. They stayed alive and grew in the brutal sun. I particularly liked the Opuntia erinacea var ursina. There are some desert salvias that would probably do well. Salvia dorii, Salvia pachyphylla. Cold hardy agaves would do well too. Look around at what is doing well in containers at buisnesses and at other people's houses. Go to a nursery that understand xeric plants. It is best to talk in the neighborhood.