How about Bird of Paradise? Strelitzia reginae. Native to South Africa. About 3 feet high with big broad green evergreen leaves and tall flower stalks with big orange flowers. It does very well in hot dry sunny areas in your area. I have one now up here in Oakland (zone 9/16) and am surprised to see it is holding up well in a fairly shady and very wet (this winter everyplace in my garden is very wet) location. The flowers get moldy easily but are still pretty from a distance. Once estabilished, you can ignore it. You won't have tons of room to plant under it but the base is still narrower than the top. Cyndi -- _______________________________________________________________________________ "There's nothing wrong with me. Maybe there's Cyndi Norman something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG) cnorman@best.com __________________________________________________ http://www.best.com/~cnorman