What will survive in my area?

[Scales]

I live in a part of Texas that is incredibly wet one month and super dry and hot the next. Which as you can imagine is very frustrating for a homeowner. I have a beautiful healthy hydrangea in the backyard, some purple hearts that constantly come back full force despite how many times the weather has knocked them back, a Wisteria bush that I am grooming into a tree for my husband, and some begonias that I've desperately kept alive because they remind me of my grandmother. Everything else we have tried has died. Either drowned in the rains last month or in this horrible heat we're having now.
We just moved to this house so I'm not even sure what some of the plants were. So I am looking for some hardy, pretty flowers that will survive in this area. I have several bare spots in my front yard so I'm not picky on short, tall, bushy or whatever. I'm going to go ahead and admit that I don't know much about gardening. I would just like something pretty that I can take care of in between work and school.

 

[marlingardener]

Scales, welcome to the forum, and welcome to gardening in Texas! Our climate and soil can make gardening a challenge, and also very rewarding.
Have you considered own-root roses of the antique variety, like Marie Pavie, Old Blush, Caldwell Pink, and Nagadoches? We are in central Texas, midway between Austin and Dallas, and have had good luck with these roses. They are hardy, need little care, and bloom like crazy!
I do encourage you to get native plants, native to your region of Texas. Instead of fighting mother nature, give the old girl a chance to let plants live and thrive. Here is a link to the Native Plant Society of Texas with a list of plants that will do well for you: http://npsot.org/wp/
And, since Texas has eight ecosystems, please let us know your general location so we can make more specific recommendations. We'll get your pretty flowering bushes/plants for your yard!

 

[Scales]

Thanks so much for your reply! I'm definitely going to look into those roses. I love roses, especially yellow, I've just been scared that they require too much care. And that list is super helpful, thanks so much!
Oh yes, I forgot. I'm in Southeast Texas, right next to Houston. Unfortunately, all that flooding came right after the first set of flowers I planted. Only a few survived, but thankfully my house is on an incline so the water didn't stay long.

 

[marlingardener]

Scales, if you like yellow roses, the Nacogdoches is made for you! It gets tall (6') and wide (3') but it blooms and blooms! It is very hardy, doesn't need fussing over (I give ours a composted cow manure shovel or two in spring) and is just lovely! I've included a picture of both the bush, and a rose.
Fall is the best time to plant roses in our part of Texas, so you have plenty of time to browse rose sites and see what you fall in love with.

 

[Kay Shrade]

An area of my yard floods quite a bit in the spring, and then gets hard and crusty in the summer. After some research, I decided to plant three Little Henry Sweetspire bushes in this troublesome area last fall. So far, I haven't been disappointed. They have been in standing water several times, and haven't been bothered. It's starting to get dry and hot now, so we'll see how they fare in these conditions!

 

[remnant]

Areas which experience such extremes of dryness and wetness are good for growing succulents. A good example of a plant that can grow in such an area is cactus and there are many species of these and they have flowers that come in a rainbow of colours. Succulents would be able to store water during the wet season and conserve it during the dry season. Good luck.