Set up an outdoor water misting system to cool down your little back patio area. Maybe on a small trellis or on taught wires connecting to 4 posts. That’ll keep it cool and help your plants.
Calscape.org is a wonderful resource for researching what grows best in the area. You can search by sun needs, blooming seasons, deciduous vs evergreen etc. It's mostly native plants, which is great for the mantis and your water bill. ;)