great suggestion Jasminerose. Thank you so much.

It looks so pretty and delicate flanked by those roses. Apparantly your cat enjoying the flower arrangement too.

You are welcome :)

My neighbor's bougainvillea looks colorful right now. It is called San Diego red, one of the hardier varieties of bougainvillea, but it wants to get very tall. I've been looking at one called Rosenka, a dwarf variety, but I'm worried that my winters are too cold. I'm going to give it a try in spring in a warm spot in my garden by a stucco wall.

Pineapple sage blooms at this time of year in zone 10 (Sunset 22) and Little John Bottlebrush seems to have flowers almost all the time. My gaura goes dormant this time of year so I cut it back. This year has been unusually warm here, so the blooming periods may be a little off.

Also in 9b: the camellias around here are glorious! No help for this year, but planning ahead for next year. The Mexican Sage is still looking good, but I expect it to die back soon.

Stock (Matthiola Incana) blooms early. I didn't post this before, because I didn't know the name, but a kind person on the rose forum helped me out. The plants form 2 inch long seed pods and I dispersed the seeds when they turned dark. I was happy to see that they germinated and are now blooming.

If you want fragrance there's Wintersweet (Chimoanthus praecox) which has the unusual characteristic of blooming in the Winter, although people complain the tree doesn't have any appeal the rest of the year.

Plant for foliage! I have a colorful, vibrant garden 365 days of the year. Think of flowers as jewelry; they should accent what is already there. In 9b you can grow almost anything.

Form and Foliage blog

These are some fantastic suggestions! Now I am getting all excited trying to plan which ones I shall be using. Thanks everyone for your input. Appreciate all your suggestions very much.

Loropetalum are covered in pink blooms now in Z9!

I planted a Little John Bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus) at the end of my Iceberg rose hedge. I'm hoping it will provide color at a time when my Icebergs look like sticks. It requires little water once established and is hardy from zones 8 to 11. I think it will work out well, because plants in my area need to be able to take a bit of frost and plenty of heat.

@Jasminerose are we in the same CA z9, because over here our Iceberg roses bloom right through winter! I'm around SF!

The little john bottlebrush looks lovely though! Edit: my brain farted, I meant to say the gaura is lovely!

For OP: We have a Tibouchina shrub here that blooms right through winter as well.

I acquired an African Daisy called Voltage Yellow last summer. It has never stopped blooming. Not only that, it became "established" within just a few months. Meaning I did not have to check it all the time for watering. I live 9b inland so what a boon it has been for me and I will buy more.

My iceberg roses bloom pretty much year round here in san diego cnty.This year i got another surprise with them.All summer and fall they were white as they have been since the day we planted them ,probably 10 or more years ago.Now they are a very pretty pink,with some being darker,and some lighter shades of pink.I like the change.

I should say that the only reason why my Iceberg roses look like sticks right now is because I defoliate them after pruning. However, fresh new growth is coming in already.