Hi chief,
Go here...
http://www.victoria-adventure.org/waterlilies/cultivar_gallery_tropical_day.htmlIt is a thumbnail view page of tropicals. You can look through the page and find a starting color that you like.
Your weather is like mine and maybe a bit nicer. I have just about all of the color spectrum that is out there at this point and most all of them do really well.
If you like purples, I really like Purple Zanzibar,Lindsey Woods, Midnight, King of Siam, Foxfire or Director George T.Moore. Incidentally if you see the purple lily that is in my member information on the left, that is the Purple Zanzibar. It is the darkest purple I have or have seen to date.
If you like blues, Star of Siam, the colorata and Woods Blue Goddess are some nice ones I have. The colorata and the Woods Blue Goddess create little tubers very easily so it would be tough to kill your plant for good since they like to reproduce so much.
You really need to try some tropicals. They should really do great for you.
Tim