Does the simply shaped green foliage of the lilac make a nice contast to the colored and cut foliage of your maple and smoke bush and so enhance their beauty? How about growing one of the smaller clematis that blooms later in the season over your lilac? (There is a gentleman, David5311 who sometimes visits the perennials forum who has successfully done this with multiple shrub/clematis pairings.) It will save you the trouble of starting over again with a new shrub. Get a big sized plant to start, not one of the little tiny starter plants so that it can compete with your already established shrubs, and match the ultimate size of the clematis with the ultimate size of your lilac. The folks in the clematis forum may have some specific suggestions for you. I know there are some clematis that are supposed to grow no longer that 5 or 6 feet (marketed as patio clematis, I believe), so they might work on your lilac. Many shrubs don't have a long season of interest. Of Duluth's suggestions that I have grown, mock orange and burning bush are both of interest for a relatively short time period. Some of the northern lights azaleas have nice fall color and of course the gorgeous spring blooms, but not much summer or winter interest. Blueberries have spring flowers, summer berries, and fall color, and a few have nicely colored winter twigs. There are geen and white variegated red-twigged dogwoods which have the foliage during the growing season, spring flowers, summer berries, and the red branches in the winter. In order to keep it small enough it would need some trimming, but it is suggested that you prune about 1/3 of the branches down to near ground level each year to keep the branch color (older branches lose the bright red), so it might work for you. There are also veriegated euonymus with green and white or gold and white foliage. In addition to Anthony Waterer there are many other spireas that have green to gold foliage, pink or white blossoms, and some have nice red/gold/orange fall foliage. Some of the smaller weigelas have colored foliage, though their blossoming period isn't too long.

I'm glad I found this thread. Lots of good ideas, and pros and cons I hadn't considered. A public garden I tend is in the back of a 2-story church with vast, white walls that receive full sun most of the day during summer. In Sacramento, that can mean several days of 100+ weather. We don't get any rain through the summer, so everything needs to be hand watered in the hot, rainless months. For the past 3 years we've used blue morning glories, which are like perennials in our climate. We usually have several days of below freezing weather in the winter which tinges some of the plants, but usually never kills. Careful pruning before spring makes frosted spots invisible. I have not planted any morning glories myself. They have self seeded or continued to grow like perennials. Everyone loves them, but are willing to consider something else. There are places where I need to pull down dead vines, but most of it continues to grow. Last year it joined forces with an extremely vining rose and took over the lower half of the building. Then it was difficult to cut back with all the thorns. It also has turned the corner of the building getting entangled with other plants. It jumped to the palms and hollyhocks in the nearby raised bed. I'd like to find something that is more low-maintenance especially since this is a volunteer-tended garden. Is there anything besides close vigilance and pruning to keep the vining rose from playing with whatever is on the wall? It is planted very close to the wall. I've considered letting it take over, but it's not a big bloomer, especially if I let it grow wild. Perhaps best solution is to dig it up. The bright blue of the morning glories is very exciting against the white walls, so I would need something with lots of continuing color to keep everyone happy. If the vine lost control and kept growing up to the second floor and roof, we would have no way o trimming it back. I've considered passifloras, but was told only one species might survive Sacramento's very hot summers. I do like Black Eyed Susans and the flowers are bright, but not sure they are right for that spot. Jasmines might be too invasive although they smell heavenly. I don't know any that have bright colors either. I don't know the name of the existing vining rose. It has thorns. Not an option of replacing it with a rose that's more manageable -- no funds at all and digging it up would be a big pain. Nasturtium would be WONDERFUL but it needs the coolness and moisture of the Bay Area to thrive here. I haven't found a good spot yet that is shaded enough for a small patch of nasturtium that would bloom in early spring and again in very late summer. Maybe staying with the morning glories is the best way to go? I could be more aggressive in keeping it confined to the one wall, then pull all of it down about December. By spring it's all grown back and starts blooming the minute the sun shine hits it for longer periods of the day. But it never reaches the second story walls. Is there something else you all could recommend within the confines of my situation? This year I've been promised a sort of small arbor around "U" shaped bench seating. My job is to create some overhead shade. I'm leaning toward grapes. Since this garden isn't secured, we don't want to create completely opaque sides that might mask 'other' activities at night. Someone also mentioned tomatoes -- hadn't considered that.

Fiddlewood - Citharexylum fruticosum. 1. It's a Florida native. 2. When it's in bloom, nine months out of the year, the fragrance is spectacular. 3. You can buy a 3-gallon, multi-trunked shrub for $10. 4. It will grow to the roof line or you can keep it shorter. 5. You can shape it into a tree form or keep it lower. Looking out from the lanai in this photo, the Fiddlewood is dead center in the background; just beyond the Agave. This one is from a cutting taken 5 years ago.

You're a zone 10 and I'm a zone 9, so some of my suggestions may not work for you. Color in my garden right now and through early November consists of: Salvias Roses evergreen daylilies Alstroemeria (Peruvian lilies) Pelargoniums Dwarf Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepsis indica) Convolvulus mauritanicus Dahlias (okay, not all year long, but I love them so much it's worth growing them for the color punch they give when much of the garden is resting from the heat) Oleander Canna Cestrum Hydrangeas such as "Endless Summer" Osteospermum And you need to think in terms of good evergreen foliage shrubs as well. They are much more reliable for impact than just using flowers. Such as this shade combo of plectranthus and oxalis: Or this partial-sun combo of Strobilanthes and fancy-leaf pelargonium: