Katthor, Don't know what zone you are in. I am in zone 8, in SC. Roses, especially knock out roses do very well in my front yard which is all sun like yours. I have a crape myrtle tree, a chaste tree, (look up online, it is gorgeous!). Out back in the full sun I have cannas. They will get real big if you water them every 2 days and give them lots of sun. Wax myrtle is a very nice shrub or tree to grow that is evergreen for winter interest, sweet tea olive trees(they grow pretty slow) are pretty and evergreen in the winter, they bloom all fall and winter and early spring and smell soooo good. Well, that is what I have, the sun is wicked on some plants isn't it? Good luck to you!

Guess this is called thinking aloud, but that's ok, lol. I can print a copy when I'm ready to go to the nursery. After a little more research I'm leaning toward Camellia sasanqua ... I'd love to find a "Mine-no-yuki". And I'm still considering Virginia Sweetspire ... "Henry's Garnet" if I can find it.

I live in Northern IL - Kane County. we have over an AC and the lot is split between full sun and full shade. Due to water issues in the area, we have to choose plants that are drought torrent to survive in our yard! Balloon Flowers have done very well in both shade and full sun. At fist, I wasn't that happy with them as the flowers don't last for a long time, nor do the spread quickly. The GOOD NEWS is this yr. they did very, very well with our sever drought conditions............. I have several that seeded down and were in a location I didn't want them so I really didn't water them and they survived!!! Black -eyed Susan same as above! However, they will wilt down if they don't receive some form of water occasionally. The good news is once you see them start to wilt, give them a little water and they will come roaring back! They will also seed down for you! Another favorate is Purple Cone Flowers, and they come in White, Yellow, RED, and Pink. They have a very nice decorative flower head. And if you deadhead them, they will continue to flower all summer with Little to no maintenance. Just added the Red one's this yr and I love them!!!!! A few other to consider are; Jacob's Ladder, Lavender,Speedwell, Yarrow (long lasting but get tall and gangly, but the bee's and butterfly love it) Best of wishes with your garden! - AL

Thank you all so very much for the input and ideas. It's very helpful. I've seen a few photos here of what some of you have done, and they are breathtaking. Any good sources for all of the suggestions? I am glad sagos are pretty hardy because I love them! I would gladly go for large ones if I thought I could keep them alive. I am not familiar with the sizes of planters, but the ones we have are some of the largest ones you can buy at the garden centers. Dimensionwise, maybe 26-30" high and 20+" across? I can get larger ones for the palms if need be. (I did forget to mention we have 2 cats and 2 dogs who all spend a lot of time out there, so something that is safe and non-toxic to pets is very important to us.) What we are trying to accomplish is a bit different, because the only place we really have to put our tropicals is around/on our pool deck. Our house is on the edge of deep woods, and the pool is raised, so we don't have anywhere back there for planting - ergo the plan to have potted tropicals. We have a large garage where we wintered a 7' rubber plant in front of a window. It was on a rolling cart that we could put outside on nice days. The plan would be the same for the palms. That plant goes in the only area that is in shade or partial shade for a lot of the day. I've enclosed pics of the area we'd like to put the tropical palms plants in. A large portion of the deck - on the right - is not shown. I also plan to put in an outside shower in the area of the pool deck to the extreme left (difficult to see - it's between the wooden deck and the left edge of the porch), and would like to put potted plants in that area too. I don't have to worry about privacy as we are on acreage with no nearby neighbors. We cut the trees back since this pic was taken, so it is almost full sun all during the day. What do you think of some long, low planters in between the columns? The porch is very large, so there would be room for something there that maybe trailed over the edge of the porch down to the deck? Suggestions for something like that? Any more ideas on how to dress this deck and porch area up with tropicals would be super! Thank you. :) Here is a link that might be useful: Pool area