Growing flowers in Texas heat

How do you keep your flowers pretty (and alive) in the summer in Texas? I've been wanting to add color to my flowerbeds, which are all green shrubs, so I've planted several flowering plants (kaleidoscope butterfly bush, balloon flowers and something else I can't remember). I think it was the end of May when I planted them. I watered every night. But skip one day of watering (to try to be conservative), and they're all dried up and dying (some are pretty much goners). Why can't I grow anything?

Don't worry, it's not you, this is a tough time of year for recently planted plants. When you first plant things, they will often suffer from transplant shock initially, but once they get established and get their roots going then they won't need to be watered as much. Unfortunately summer (or just before summer) is not a great time to plant since the hot sun makes it even more stressful for newly planted plants. If you're planning to plant more things, you will probably have better luck if you wait and plant them when it cools off a bit in the fall or else get started earlier next spring.

If you can keep these plants watered and keep them alive until they get their roots going a bit better you'll find that they'll perk up and won't need to be watered as much, but you will probably have to water quite frequently for a while. I'd also check how deeply you're watering--if you're just giving them a little bit of water every day, you may have better results if you water them really thoroughly but then wait a day or two in between waterings.

I live in Texas, and this is the most challenging year for gardeners since 1980, and the third most in 78 years. The combination of early oppressive heat and generalized drought is taking its toll quickly.
Your plants are in the ground, right? If they're in containers, you might try moving them into a shadier location if that's possible.
A watering timetable is not the best idea. Watering should be done when the plants show moisture stress. On days when there's no rain, you may find that you have to water daily. If so, early morning, NOT night, is the best time. It braces them for the shock of the heat and low humidity ahead. Some plants will be depleted of most of their moisture and will require another watering at dusk. It makes you feel like a slave to them, but like animals (or humans), if their needs aren't met they are going to languish.
Next year you might want to concentrate on flowering plants that can tolerate drying out better than others. Pentas are a good bet, along with periwinkles and zinnias if they are of the mildew-resistant type. Purslane is pretty good, too.
I don't know if you're a Texas native or not, but most years aren't quite this problematic. Do the best you can and realize you have great odds working against you.

Here in Texas fall is prime planting time. May I suggest that you go to your local library and check out Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Gardening in Texas, which has photos, plant requirements, and zones for a myriad of plants. Do your homework now, and in the fall, go dig!
Your butterfly bush will recover if you keep it watered. Ours, planted last fall, looked great this spring and then the heat hit! We cut it back by 1/2 so it wouldn't have to support so much growth and water it deeply (6" damp earth) once a week. I tried balloon flowers also, and found they just couldn't stand our heat.
Definitely do not fertilize at this time of year! Your plants are barely maintaining the growth they have, they don't need any tender growth to try to keep alive.
For heat and drought resistant flowers, we have had good luck with the ruellias (blue and white, the pink is invasive!), flame acanthus, and bulbine. For shrubs, knock-out roses and the antique shrub roses, esperanza (Yellow Bells), vitex (blue, pink and white varieties), and salvia greggii, which comes in a lot of colors!
Hang in there, we all have plants that don't do well, but with persistence and patience you will have a lovely garden.

Can you grow Coneflowers in that area? Heat and drought tolerant...coming from the desert originally I do believe.

If you planted them at the end of May, they should not be suffering transplant shock....I'm thinking maybe they need a little afternoon shade?

I would not water every day as a rule, either......just when they are drooping in the MORNING before it gets hot.
Drooping in the evening is typical of a plant that is having a hard time dealing with afternoon Texas heat. This is where some temporary shade will help.
I have some 5 gallon buckets for the plants that have no relief from the afternoon sun. I just put the buckets over the ones that are droopy during the hot part of the day. They look great in just a couple of hours and I remove the bucket when the sun isn't beating down so badly in the evening.
If a plant is droopy late in the day and then again the following morning, THEN you need to water it.

Also, you can select plants that are good in the Texas heat such as Lantana, Pentas, Gallardia, Rudbeckia, Zinnias, Angelonia, Salvia, Mexican Heather, Gaura, Dahlias, Daylilies, Gazania, and Rosemary. Those are a few that have worked well for me.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and help. I had always had my sprinkler set to go off very early in the morning, before sun-up, but then sometimes it wouldn't work like it's supposed to, so I'd end up doing the watering at night. But I'll make sure to start watering in the mornings before it gets hot. And I love the bucket idea. I need to see which plants are still alive and tend to them. I will definitely be doing more planting in the fall. I knew it was risky to plant new flowers so late in the spring, but I got the gardening bug, and, well, what can you do? Other people in my neighborhood have such beautiful blooming flowers in their flowerbeds, and I want mine to look that way too. I should ask them what they're doing.

Thanks again!

Also don't forget to mulch. You have a good list of plants to try. Might I also suggest moss rose,purslane, Silverado sage, coreopsis, and turk's cap. I have cone flowers, but they are getting some shade. Also my tropical hibiscus are doing great with the heat. My hardy hibiscus, not so much. I've got a lawn chair sitting over the top of it. :)

When i lived in ETX the plants that did best for me were cannas, creape myrtle,iris, dafodils and daylillies. And a wild flower garden. Texas has the most beautiful wild flowers.
The cannas won't survive our winters here.