Good flowers for south Alabama

Have only been growing flowers from seed a couple of years , Zinnias, cosmos, and vincas. My front flower bed is on the west side of the house so no morning sun but blistering afternoon sun. The zinnias and vincas seem to thrive on the sun but the cosmos dry out fast .Looking to add something else to take the cosmos place .I would appriciate and ideas for next year , or for this fall .

What about

Coneflowers
Salvia
Coreopsis
Rudbeckia
Dahlias
Lantana

Oh, you poor soul. I have the same conditions. So many plants like morning sun and shade in the heat of the afternoon. Not all beds can face in the same direction, can they?
Have you grown pentas? It can't get too hot for them, but you may have to water daily during the worst of the heat. They're beautiful. Bat face cuphea is a nice novelty-type plant and likes sun, as does the "Mexican heather" cuphea, which is overplanted here. I love cosmos, but they're short-lived. The plants I mentioned would need to be bought as transplants.

For winter, have you grown pansies, or the small ones called johnny-jump-ups? They bloom best in full sun. They must not be planted until cool weather arrives- for you, November or early December. Otherwise they will get lanky and never recover. They too should be started as transplants. When you go to the nursery to buy them, just before you plant them, make sure they are vigorous-looking and haven't gotten stemmy or lanky. That would mean they had sat in their flats too long and would not do well for you. They should be short and bushy when you buy them. Some of the hybrids have very large multi-color flowers, but the solid colored ones are less prone to disease and are tough. Johnny jump-ups come in different colors, but for the best show the purple/yellow with black markings in the throat make the best display.

Here are my Rudbeckia Goldsturm today. I'm going to have to divide them - they are becoming thugs.

Your Rudbeckias are BEAUTIFUL! So is your stone flower beds. That would be perfect in my landscape!
My Rudbeckias all died this year. They were gorgeous and all of a sudden the leaves got wilted and brown...'looked like a fungus - type thing. I mean this hit quickly and all were dead! What should I have treated with, so I'll have it on hand when I replace them? 'can't live without those sunny faces!
Also, would the seeds be affected? I usually save seeds, but wouldn't want to if they were bad.

Thanks, but unfortunately that's not stone, but bleached out mulch, LOL! I've always thought stone looked cool, but seems like it would be a pain to move plants around.

I don't know enough about rudbeckia to know about the fungus thing. They are in the same bed as some roses, which have some blackspot, but they seem to be okay.

Here's some salvia I've had for years at the end of the bed where I have the rudbeckia. I couldn't find a picture of the whole plant, but it gets pretty large, is about 3 1/2' tall and wide right now.