Instant lush foliage and flowers from now until frost:
cannas All they really need is sun and water.

What kind of compost did you add? was it raw stuff or already composted stuff you purchased somewhere? If it was the later you don't have to wait at all, you're good to go! Start planting now.

It was already composted organic compost that I bought. I've only been at this hobby for about a year so I'm still kind of a noob, though a hyper-obsessed and Neil Sperry-reading noob. I was mostly concerned about plants not being able to take the sun and heat that's coming quickly upon us before they got established.

You could plant cannas in the back and bunches of zinnia seeds in the front. The zinnias can take the heat, and you can sow the seeds through August. There are so many good varieties out there, but some I would recommend include Oklahoma Mix, Carosel, State Fair, and the Benary Giants (they come in many colors). You can throw in a few Lilliput and Thumbelina at the very front edge, or edge it in iceplant. This would be a happy, colorful, inexpensive flower garden.

I want one.

Janie

I would plant an "esqueleton" of evergreens combined with patches of deciduos perennials and few patches of annuals, so the flower bed had interest and color all year long, e.g. 3 variegated Eleagnus (future small trees planted in a row,5" apart), plenty of cannas at the back, 5 or 6 Rosemaries spreaded thru the flower bed, Hesperaloe parviflora anchoring the back corners, 2-3 variegated Pyttosporus planted around the variegated Eleagnus planted in the center of the bed (creating the central focal point). Fill out the spaces between the Eleagnus with lantana, Turk's Cap, Gregg's Mist, Gaura, Betonies and salvias (to attract humm's and butterflies during the warm season). To the front and sides of the bed I suggest Hymenoxy, black foot daisy, society garlic, lavender, pansy (cold season),Sedun "Emperador", Carex morrowii and miniature carnation. Make sure to spread seeds of Blue bonnets all over so you can have your blue patch in spring . Place at least one bird bath and don't forget to create a sitting area next to it so can admire your impressive new flower bed while sipping a cold lemonade or a warm chocolate, depending on the weather.

Omar

I do have the sitting area already! I have a swing back there, complete with a bougainvillea on it - which was really the point of making the flowerbed. Though I find myself chasing my toddler more often than sitting ... ah well, the time will come that he'll listen when I yell from my spot on the swing, rather than needing me to come charging across the lawn to stop him from eating pansies ...

Yes!! that day will come before you know it!

I would grab some plants that are wonderful in Texas like purple or white trailing lantana, cuphea, plumbago, etc. and plant them now. They won't mind being planted in the heat as long as you keep them watered and will give you a nice show this year. They are tender perennials that will probably not come back next year because of the cold.
Spend the summer thinking about what you want to plant in the fall. If it was me, I'd get roses (tea roses or china roses, not walmart, home depot, or lowes roses) and blue or purple salvia and some of the nandinas that make berries, preferably the short ones called Harbor Belle nandinas, and a winter honeysuckle (it's a big bush, not a climber). That way you've got blooms from spring to frost from the roses and salvia and blooms from frost to spring with the winter honeysuckle, and an extra bit of winter interest from the berries on the nandinas. Maybe I would throw in a jasminium nudifolium (spelling may be wrong) for more winter blooms and some crocus and daffodils for the spots that the salvias will leave over winter when they die back.
To me, that sounds like the perfect full sun bed. Fragrance in the summer from the roses and in the winter from the winter honeysuckle. Blooms all year. With plants like winter honeysuckle and the jasmine that bloom all winter long, you wouldn't even need evergreens for winter interest.
If you decide to go in this direction and need help finding plants (that jasmine is hard to find) or picking out roses that will bloom all summer without any pause then email me and I'll help you out.
Carrie

I think lantana will come back. Turk's cap, too, and both grow fast and flower. Rosemary is a cool texture and will grow like a maniac AND come back. Stick some potato and sweet potato vines in... not original, I know, and won't come back, but will fill in fast and give pretty contrast.

You are a bit farther north, but I have these on the west side:
texas sage, creeping ruellia, lantana, grasses, canna, tropical hibiscus, guara, coneflower, daylilies, border zinnia, ginger and mexican sage.

Barbie

Awesome ... I'm going to try a few different things, see what works, and expand upon what's successful! I put out some hollyhock seeds and some zinnia seeds, many of which have sprouted. I also got a lot of stuff from Barb this past weekend that I put out in that bed - it's still pretty spotty because it's a big bed with baby plants, but that's a problem that will solve itself in short order! Cannas, cleome, salvias, coreopsis, rock rose and blue mist. All pretty random scattering right now (though the seeds are in rows, zinnia in the front, obviously), so we'll see what my scatter-shot bed design does this summer! I'd like to get my hands on a bat-faced cuphea to put out there ... ugh, $12 at Lowe's?! I'll looks elsewhere for cheap stuff ... cuttings or something.

Thanks guys!