In my zone 6b Pennsylvania garden, I grown Gemini, Tamora, Lavaglut and olog. I have a friend in the same zone (near me) who has Cherry Parfait and a DIL who has Frederick Mistral. I'm thinking you might have slightly more humidity than I. My gardens are all day south exposed full sun. Gemini is a wonderful rose and does quite well, even with disease resistance, but like Diane NJ say, it shuts down over the very hottest, most humid part of the summer. Winters, it seems quite strong. Besides being very small, Tamora doesn't do so well in the heat and humidity either and is more prone to black spot. I'm not as thrilled with this rose as I could be and it suffers from winter die back. Frederick Mistral also suffers from winter kill, but not to the extent as Tamora. It is also a larger bush, more heat tolerant but still prone to black spot. Cherry Parfait, olog and Lavaglut are all outstanding in the gardens around here. Cherry Parfait is more prone to black spot, but is winter strong. Olog and lavaglut will get blackspot in my garden toward the end of the season and I do spray, but not as regularily as some of the others. Remember to keep Tamora, olog and Lavaglut toward the front of the bed since all these roses have a tendency to be squatty. Tamora looks more like a miniature except for the leaf and bloom size. The plant is so extremely tiny. This is just my take. All roses act differently in different areas.

There are some rhododendrons that are known for doing well in full sun. My rhododendrons are in full sun. Sun Tolerant Rhododendrons and Azaleas Some of my best are A. Bedford, Annah Kruschke, Belle Heller, Boule de Neige, Cadis, Chionoides, County of York, Disca, Dora Amateis, English Roseum, Gomer Waterer, Nova Zembla, PJM, Ramapo A subset of these are those that are good for sun and heat: Rhododendrons and Azaleas Tolerant of Sun and Heat Mulching rhododendrons is always important, but a good mulch is even more important in sunny locations and in hot climates. It helps keep the roots cool. The following are sun, heat and cold tolerant: 'Aunt Martha' (-10F), 'Blue Jay' (-10F), 'Blue Peter' (-10F), 'Boule de Neige' (-25F) , 'Cynthia' (-15F), 'English Roseum' (-25F), 'Myrtifolium' (-15F), Nova Zembla (-25F) and 'PJM' (-25F). For extremes in heat such as in the US Southeast, there are some R. hyperythrum based hybrids that are very tolerant of heat. The do best in some shade. Heat Tolerant Rhododendrons Good Luck! Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow rhododendrons and azaleas

Florida: There are azaleaa native to Florida: R. austrinum, the Florida Azalea 5', -5F. It is a deciduous azalea found from northwest Florida to Georgia, Alabama and southeast Mississippi. This plant blooms in early spring as the leaves are beginning to expand. The fragrant, sometimes lemony, blossoms come in shades of orange through gold and yellow with a reddish tube, and measure approximately 1 to 1.5 inches across. This species has very long stamens and the tube of the flower is often flushed with red but there is no blotch. Discovered by Dr. A. W. Chapman before 1865, R. austrinum is similar in many respects to R. canescens including the sticky glandular hairs on the flower tube, but differs in the color variations which are orange to yellow rather than pink to white. R. austrinum makes an excellent landscape plant as well as a valuable hybridizing resource, especially in southern gardens where heat tolerance is important. It is a tetraploid, meaning it has twice the number of chromosomes of most rhododendrons and as a result will not hybridize with them. Natural hybrids between R. austrinum and R. canescens do occur but aren't common since R. austrinum is found in upland woods and R. canescens is found in low areas near streams. Although R. austrinum resembles R. canescens, it is more closely related to R. luteum and R. occidentale. R. canescens, the Florida Pinxter or Piedmont Azalea 5', -5F. It has white to pinkish tubular flowers with stamens two to three times longer than the petals. It is often confused with R. periclymenoides. Both are medium deciduous azaleas that are found in the Carolinas but can be separated by the flower tubes, which in R. periclymenoides are fuzzy. R. canescens also has tiny hairs, but they are sticky and glandular. Another noticeable difference is that when a flower of R. periclymenoides dies, a ridge on the corolla tube tends to catch on the end of the pistil so that a flower cluster past its prime consists of several dangling blossoms. Although widespread in the eastern half of the U.S., these two wild azaleas differ in distribution. In South Carolina, for example, R. periclymenoides is a Piedmont plant, with almost no specimens reported from the Sandhills or Coastal plain, while R. canescens is predominantly a Low Country plant absent from the Piedmont, except in counties that border the Savannah River. In general, if it grows wild north of South Carolina, it's likely R. periclymenoides; south of the Palmetto State and it's probably R. canescens. Both species prefer moist, humus-laden, acidic soil but seem to do equally well in shade or sun. Old specimens can reach heights of 12-15 feet and have multiple stems or trunks up to 5" in diameter. Rhododendron canescens was discovered by Mark Catesby, who published a picture of it in 1731. Michaux collected it in South Carolina between 1784 and 1796. It was probably introduced to England in the mid-eighteenth century. R canescens forms natural hybrids with several species that occur within its geographic range. For other heat tolerant azaleas visit my website: Heat Tolerant Rhododendrons and Azaleas where you will find lists of: The Aromi Hybrid Deciduous Azaleas which were bred in Alabama. The Southern Indica Hybrids which are Evergreen Azaleas that are quite popular.

High Country Gardens, in Albuquerque, specializes in plants (including grasses) for xeric landscapes. Check them out. They also have a sale going on ornamental grasses right now. You can't go wrong if you use grasses native to the desert environment, although many of them are not very attractive: Alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides) Needle and thread grass (Hesperostipa comata) Plains lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia) Sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) Most of these can be grown from seed. www.curtisseed.com www.graniteseed.com www.pawneebuttesseed.com This information is from The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. Call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 ext. 14 or E-mail them at cottonwoodmg@yahoo.com Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens