A possibility is a perennial such as hellebore - they offer summer mounds of dark green leaves (about 2' x 3'), and, after the old leaves are trimmed back in Jan. or Feb., flowers in colors ranging from white to a dusky purple, through pink and spotted. Several of the newer cultivars have flowers that are less "nodding" than the older ones, so the flowers are more visible. If you want to spend the money, there are very new cultivars with double flowers. While they want afternoon shade, mine are quite happy with morning sun. They do reseed, and will mix, so you might get new colors (perhaps), after the seedlings grow up for 2-4 years. If you want something taller, than what about Gold Mound spirea? It may not be a whole lot taller, but would flower in shades of pink, with the yellowish leaves as contrast. Any of the spireas might do - several are taller, some flower in spring and some in summer. Native azaleas are nice, frequently fragrant shrubs - some flower in spring, some in summer, in shades of pink, orange, yellow and white. There is a new loropetalum - whose name now escapes me - I've only seen it twice at a nursery, but it is very dark purple-leaved, flowers in a (almost) true red, and is supposed to stay compact - it also has pink and white (with green leaves) siblings. Other thoughts are gardenias, fothergilla, hydrangeas, the smaller mountain laurels, pieris, and some of the viburnums, to give a choice ranging from evergreen to deciduous and back.

A few Taxus baccata mail-order sources: Bloom River (excellent G.WD. rating) - two cultivars Broken Arrow Nursery (excellent G.WD. rating) - one cultivar Cloud Mountain Farm & Nursery (excellent G.WD. rating) - multiple cultivars Fairweather Gardens (pretty good G.WD. rating) - one cultivar ForestFarm (very good G.WD. rating) - species and one cultivar Girard Nurseries (pretty good G.WD. rating) - one cultivar Gossler Farms Nursery (so-so G.WD. rating) - one cultivar Oikos Tree Crops (excellent G.WD. rating) - species RareFind Nursery (excellent G.WD. rating) - one cultivar Secret Garden Growers (very good G.WD. rating) - one cultivar Dynamite crApe myrtle...you might have better luck spelling it with an 'a'; most professionals spell it that way and some sites may not show results for the alternate spelling. There are almost an infinite number of sources for this plant.

dulcie2003, I don't know much about crepe myrtles (my zone is way colder than yours) but I do know that reds (the pix I googled show dynamite as a really vibrant lucious red) can be somewhat difficult to color match. I would go with small dark green shrubs and white annuals under/or around/or near the tree. (Will gardenias grow there? - if so that would be a good possibility - a 2 for 1 deal). I would then try to echo the red somewhere else in the yard (maybe pots on the porch) where a perfect match doesn't matter as much. The red crepe myrtle and the echoing reds should really pop well against your neutral house background and give it some punch, and still look very elegant. If the crepe myrtles have and off season (no flowers) you could change out the annuals or add a few perennials in another color, or soften down the red to a pink shade which would also look great with your house color.

With crepe myrtles, you not have to water constantly but you have to water deep. That means, give them a good soak every five days or so and make sure that they are not just wet on the surface by checking the soil around the tree with a trowel. Once they are established, you only have to water them in extreme drought. I give mine a tablespoon of epsom salt every 3 months for fertilizer while getting established and now, I only fertilize them once a year. My neighbor does not do a thing with his and they look great. Crepe myrtles are very hardy and tough so I know yours will bounce back.