My Lady Banks rose blooms pretty much all season from sometime in June until after first frost. Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' starts blooming early July and blooms through light frosts until I get a hard freeze. Both these plants have very visible flowers. I also have a Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice' that is blooming now (this is an unusually early spring, but it does usually bloom with the daffodils) and will bloom until hard frost. It has small clusters of little white flowers and subtle white edges on the leaves. It's not a 50 MPH plant, but one you want where you will walk by it to see the flowers, the lovely leaves, and enjoy the scent. Another way to extend your season of bloom for a shrub with a short bloom season like a lilac, is to plant a clematis a few feet away and train it into the branches of the shrub so that the clematis blooms appear among the leaves and branches of the shrub. Many of the type 2 and 3 clematis have a relatively long bloom season.

You're welcome. I love mountain laurel also. I have a spot marked out for some, but haven't gotten around to buying them yet.... Try a Google Images search for "Kalmia latifolia" to see some of the newer red and pink cultivars. (A search for "mountain laurel" will also yield many photos of an unrelated purple-flowered Texas shrub.)

One of my fav nurseries swears by Winnepeg Parks rose. Guy always pushes those over knockout due to their hardiness. If roses are put in the right condition they will be lush...full sun, moist but not wet soil. I wouldn't suggest boxwoods in front of the roses. The boxwoods have form and structure...use them as a backdrop/fondation. The roses are more informal and should be used in front of them, plus why would you want to hide the color? Use this link to find some other varieties http://guides.travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1078607&icid=msn1078607&gt1=41000 Plant type as rose and color as red, there were tons of options. My Hero is another good one that has continous blooms.

Once again, a trip to a good local nursery should provide you with many choices, specially at this time of year when many of these places feature fall planting sales. You could consider a collection of dwarf conifers, which offer a wide array of shapes, sizes and foliage color. Broadleaf evergreens I particularly value for extremely low maintenance and all around good looks are Viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet', 'Newport Dwarf' escallonia, various nandinas, Cotoneaster glaucophylla, Euonymus japonicus var. microphylla (boxleaf euonymus - assorted variegated forms to chose from) and hebes, but there are scores of others. And there are many deciduous shrubs that offer stunning fall color or late season blooms. Most of these will not offer too much interest during winter but twig dogwoods are standouts and oakleaf hydrangeas generally hold their richly colored fall foliage well into winter.