One of the most reliable small flowering shrubs I've ever grown - one which is also happily thriving in a drought tolerant garden, is Nepeta, also known as Catmint. This year, along with the standard 'Walker's Low' variety that one sees in many gardens, I brought in a taller version that can get up to 3 feet high, the "Souvenir D'Andre Chaudron".
This is a great example of not assuming every variety of a certain plant is going to grow the same or is the same level of hardiness. ALWAYS check the label or look it up online while at the nursery, you might be surprised. This one is taller (something I wanted for it's spot against the house) AND more cold-hardy (something I now value wayyy more with climate change's drastic effects on our planet now pushing our winter into zone 7 from it's normally milder zone 8) than its other cousins, and has been a great fit where other attempts early on in this unique covered spot in front of the house have failed.
It's rugged, it's pretty, and if you ignore it here and there it won't hate you. Plus boy oh boy do the pollinators love it!
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