Hello karen ..

Just some ideas .. Cactus and other succulents may be interesting since they provide a good flower show. It's keeping up with the watering thats going to make you loose plants.

Lantana ??

Grevillea ?

Oleander ??

Good Day ..

The following plants have survived my benign neglect (and have gone for more than a week without water in pots in at least half a day of sun):

Pelargonium ("annual" geraniums)

Crassula ovata (Jade plant)

Bougainvillea

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana

Sanseveria

Bougainvilla is an excellent choice. So is Cat's Claw, Hearts and Flowers (Ice Plant), Rosemary, Honeysuckle, Emu bush, Fairy Duster, all of which I have in full sun.

Em..... patio off my kitchen.....You certainly can't go wrong with garden to kitchen I would think.

I have found that a lot of herbs have a very pleasing scent when brushed against. Their scent really registers to my
liking so I love them all! Lol.

Here are a few herbs off the top of my head:-

Aloe vera;- Famous claim for helping minor cuts and burns. You would also got the hummers
visiting while the plant flowering.

Basil;- I love adding it to soup or salad. Left overs make nice aroma as well.

Murraya koenigii;- Often referred to as ~Curly leaves~Very beautiful and it does indeed have a fabulous scent.

Rosemary;- As already suggested!

{{gwi:12341}}
Ankrara's Hobby Corner

Consider some of the native salvias - they will also provide fragrance. There were about 18 of them last I read. The wild morning glory & wild cucumber are vines that can take the heat. Mexican fan palm & date palm are also very heat tolerant although it takes up space. I place some of my echeveras & cacti in hot areas so they can flower.

I second the salvias -- I was unfamiliar with them until we moved to the southwest; the salvia I knew back east was a little 8" tall over-hybridized boring annual. But the salvias out here are great, growing into large bushes if you let them, with fragrant foliage (in some cases) and a variety of flower colors. And the hummingbirds love ours (esp., of course, the red!) They also seem to take a heavy pruning well -- cut them back and within a week or two they're bursting with new growth, and soon thereafter new flowers.

... after posting the above, also just thought about lavender (all the many varieties)... also you could do a dwarf orange or grapefruit; nothing like the smell of orange blossoms in the spring! The citrus would require regular watering (and well-draining soil) but so long as that's not a problem, they won't care a whit about the heat... Arabian jasmine, for the lattices, as well as clematis... scheffalera (sp).

I'm still amused to see tree-sized scheffalera in SoCal and AZ; I remember my mom trying to keep them (and jade plants!) alive as houseplants back in Minnesota!