Both of those plants are good choices for the area. They are relatively drought tolerant. With the heat, even desert adapted plants can be stressed. These are both hardy plants and if heat damaged, the plant will recover nicely.
Agree with @azdavidr, sounds like you have a good plan, @Modawg2k.
they definitely bounce back in the mornings looking healthy, just by the end of of the day they are ready to be out of the sun
Me, too!
@azdavidr So I took the first step to align my drip system up. I have a Dwarf Katie Ruellia that also hasn’t been doing so well, but the thing is little, and gets the same amount of water my larger shrubs get because everything has 2 GPH emitters in the same zone. I’m wondering if it’s getting water logged. It’s also on a slope so the 2 GPH really has some run off so who knows. I replaced the 2 GPH with a 0.5 GPH one. Doing this aligns my PR (0.34 in/hr) with where I want it to be with my other shrubs (after some other replacements/additions are done).
Next up is to add one 2 GPH drip line to each of my Orange Jubliee’s pictured above. This will give 4 GPH/plant, 3’ canopy so it’s needs 8 gallons, and it’ll have the 0.34 in/hr PR.
Good article on watering lawns in the arid climates. http://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/watering-established-lawns-7-199/
I do the same for drips but not sure how much that really matters because evaporation is not much of a concern and no dew to destroy.