If you don't get a helpful answer here, try the Florida forum http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/flgard/ Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Forum

I agree with Ricky and Tom. That's a tough area, but a rock garden with succulents could work. With that space, anything else might require constant pruning. One plant that I really like that you might consider is firecracker plant, which is happy without water. Irrigation would be complicated there, most of it would run down the drive. And you wouldn't have to worry about one of the main problems with firecracker plant _ it will root wherever it touches the ground, so it can spread out of control. Not a problem if it's bounded by concrete. It would end up draping over your driveway and your path some. But it's a can't-kill-it kind of plant here in Miami. It would fill in pretty quickly, but I don't know what would happen on those tiny corners. Attaching a link with pics. Ricky, Tom, thoughts? Y'all know this stuff better than I do. Here is a link that might be useful: firecracker pics

You should check out the web site for Flora Grubb Nursery in San Francisco, at www.floragrubb.com. I am not sure if there is a web site for another San Francisco specialty nursery, Living Green, but this is also a very interesting high end indoor plant store and gallery. If you are visiting in the San Francisco Bay Area, (no web site that I know of) you should also check out The Dry Garden Nursery in Oakland. No shortage of specialty higher end nurseries here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and they are all doing pretty well financially, with good business even during the developing recession...

On the NE side of the Avalon Peninsula, you are Canadian zone 5a or 5b which is a bit different from the same numbered zones in the US. Perhaps one of the other Canadians on the forum will do a rough translation of those into US zones so the rest of us can make some additional recommendations. All the ones I am suggesting are hardy to at least -20 F. Some of the wetland irises may work for you such as Iris versicolor (blue flag iris). Siberian iris, though not native, won't spread wildly in my experience, so it should be OK. If you like a grassy look, there are a large number of wetland sedges (Carex spp.) and the spiral rush Texas Ranger suggested should be fine, (Juncus effusus spiralis), but I am not sure that the others will be. There are probably some local rushes that will also work for you. Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) should be hardy enough for you. It has cheerful yellow early spring flowers. If you have any shady areas Osmunda regalis (royal fern) likes wet feet. Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) and Lobelia siphilitica (great blue lobelia) should both be fine. Joe-Pye weed (might be called Eutrochium spp. or Eupatorium spp.), Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and Rosa palustris (swamp rose) are happy with wet feet. Any of the common types of Chelone (turtlehead), Cornus sericea (red-twigged shrub dogwoods), and Helenium (Helen's flower) grow in damp areas in the wild, so will be fine. All of the ironweeds (Veronia spp.) that I am familiar with like damp feet. One of my favorite wetland shrubs is Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly) which is deciduous and needs both male and female plants for berry production. Ilex glabra (inkberry) is evergreen, but the berries are dark and so not too ornamental IMO. Rhododendron viscosum (swamp azalea) and R. canadense (rhodora) are two rhododendrons that prefer wet feet, though most like it much drier. Both of them are deciduous. Rhododendron groenlandicum also likes wet feet and is quite short and evergreen. Most (maybe all?) willows, including some low-growing ones, are happy growing in damp to wet areas.