I live in a very hot climate, although we have high humidity, and I assume you are more desert like. Nevertheless, I would think you would have great luck with zinnias (Profusion and Crystals are excellent for containers), Salvia farinacea "Victoria", Scaevola (the blues are the best and make nice spillers out of containers), Gomphrena, melampodium, some of the low, bushy cosmos, pentas, marigolds and Vincas. You could also try portulaca, although the blooms tend to close up in the heat of the day. Small ornamental grasses are wonderful in containers too, like Stipas and pennisetums. Also, yuccas are very elegant in containers, as are phormiums, and cordylines. I should think they would all love your climate. As far as hummers and bees, etc. are concerned, I have found that if you have a variety of plants blooming, they will find you everytime.

Gazanias did great in the heat for me, and were very drought tolerant.

I would add:
Chinese Forget-me-Not (Cynoglossum amabile)
Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana)
African Daisy.....Venidium species....prefer to be on the dry side and could need a container all to themselves...1 or 2 per large wide container/basin These might even be perennial for you.

Vera

venidiums are great!
{{gwi:4589}}

Hot weather flowers that can take dry conditions and attract butterflies:
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Lantana (actually a perennial in very warm areas)
Verbena
Pentas
Blanketflower (Gaillardia)
Salvia
Spider Flower (Cleome)
Whirling Butterflies (Gaura)
Penstemon
Tickseed (Coreopsis)

IÂm not the OP but this is a useful list: thanks! I have an area the hose wonÂt reach.

That venidium is really interesting: looks a lot like the African daisies, osteospermum, but more interesting. Osteospermum are supposed to like the sun but for me they peter out midsummer.

They are wonderful in real life, up close. The central colors look like they were painted by hand using a very fine brush.

To my surprise I have often had a hummingbird visit the Gerbera. I thought that the flowers were not the right type, but again, maybe they are.

{{gwi:4590}}

Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)does well during the heat of our summers though I don't know how well they would handle your conditions which I'm assuming are rather low in humidity.

They are very easy to start from seed and the fragrance is sweet and honey like.

This web site has beautiful galleries of flowering plants that grow in Israel. Site includes bloom times which would be important for heat tolerance issues. If it blooms there during hottest months it's shown in bloom time chart. Also has map of Israel breaking it down into climate/natural horticultural areas.

Also has links including "Wild Flowers of Israel" which has exhaustive list:

http://www.wildflowers.co.il/english/plantsIndex.asp

Don't know where you're located but map showing horticultural areas of country together with bloom time chart should give you lots of information to start with. All plants are listed by Latin names so I still have to Google them for common names but you may be ahead of me on that.

My best friend's daughter is married to an Israeli and lives in Tel Aviv. She's due to give birth to her first child in next few days. She said heat has been oppressive and she's more than ready to get the delivery going ASAP.

If you're in Jerusalem you could go see the Botanical Gardens to get an idea of what grows well there and in what season. They also have a lot of information and links to help you out.

http://www.botanic.co.il/english/index.htm

Good luck with your plantings.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flowers in Israel

As if I didn't already want to see Isreal bad enough!

My parents made it to Israel a couple of years before my Mom passed away. They had wanted to go for years and years and when their parish was running a trip they went for it. Mom had a hard time getting around but she was always a trooper and seeing things that held so much significance for her spurred her along.

A year or two ago I read they've irrigated parts of the Negev desert and grow melons down there. Probably other things by now. I'm not sure where they grow the plants and cut flowers they export but it's becoming a sizable business sector.

That botanical garden is tremendous from the website information.

OT...triple_b, I got my father some "own root" roses from Heirloom Roses for Christmas. We were so upset when they arrived in May because they were so, so tiny. The miniature "Love Potion" (24" @ maturity) has 5 buds on it that are ready to open!
The floribunda "Wistful" just bloomed and it was a gorgeous lavender. We didn't cut it because it's the only bloom showing so far. The lavender floribunda is right next to a 34 year old red floribunda that's almost denuded from black spot and/or rust but still blooming its head off. The lavender floribunda and other new little rose bushes haven't caught the blight(s) and I'm hoping their rating of "very disease resistant" holds up as time goes on.
If my condo balcony wasn't so dark from facing north I'd have a couple miniatures in pots. Spend so much time here at my father's though I finally decided "we" needed some color so found relative sanity in starting gardens. I've quickly found out why I chose to live in a condo...LOL...a LOT less work.

Yes I hope to go there one day while it is stil reasonabley safe. A couple girls from my church have been there and one posted some pictures of Isreal and Jerusalem on Facebook. I was amazed at how green it was. (springtime though, mind you.)