Lovely pot!! To some degree, what you choose will depend on what shape you want - tall and rigid, tall and flowing, short and round, short and weeping, etc. My two favorite choices would be: Spirea Ogon AKA mellow yellow, which is fountain shaped rather than the rounded or bun shape of many spireas. White flowers, fine willowy yellow to chartreuse summer foliage, and red-gold fall color. Clematis Stolwijk Gold, which has gold to chartreuse leaves and early blue flowers. Grown on a medium trellis I think this would look stunning. Ninebark I think will be too big for the pot based on my P. coppertina. I'm personally not a fan of privet and IME they get pretty huge also. Some other thoughts: Yellow oak leaf hydrangea, Little Honey, though it has a reputation for being a bit fussy. It likes at least part shade Yellow-variegated shrub dogwoods (Cornus), though they might be too large Yellow elderberries (Sambucus) might stay small enough in your pot though they get large in the ground Clumping bamboos, though I am not sure if any of the yellowish ones will be hardy enough for you. Yellow leaved evergreens, such as some of the Chamaecyparis, would have foliage year round if you will be leaving the pot outside. Some heathers have yellow to gold to orange foliage depending on the time of year and the variety. Caryopteris such as Sunshine Blue have gold foliage and late season blue flowers. You'd need to check if the flowers coordinated with the pot. Gold grasses, either variegated like some of the Miscanthus, or solid like gold Hakone grass. You might also want to consider a water garden in your pot with papyrus, though it wouldn't be hardy or yellow. Here is a link that might be useful:

in z5 . everything is just getting going.. so i would give it another month or so ... did you have the extreme cold winter i had in my z5 ...??? if so .. i would probably.. without a pic.. write the damage off to that ... are yours deciduous in winter??? is the damage basically down to where you might suspect there was snow cover all winter.. say 1 foot off the ground... if so .. the damage above is surely winter damage ... ken

The pH makes a tremendous difference - you guys are further north then us in Chi town and get colder temps but it sounds like the soil is a bit lighter and the pH is in the correct range. You most likely also have more reliable snow cover then us as well. For us here in N. IL, my feeling is there's too many factors going against to have any notable success with azaleas & rhodies even the 'Northern Lights' series. The soil in general is very heavy black clay except along the very edge of Lake Michigan and certain other isolated pockets; it tends to be wet and gummy over the winter (a plant killer), along with unreliable snow cover (which is an insulator) and add to that a high pH and the added stress of cold temperatures usually results in near failure or marginal success. For Virtuosity, I've seen your place over in the Design forum - a new subdivision probably means you have not much in the way of topsoil so I'd recommend skipping some of these so called bargains from the box stores and taking a trip down in the spring to Natural Gardens for some colorful tough native shrubs or good cultivars. You'll pay more but you'll come away with expert advice from the staff and plants that will work for you in your environment. Limestone bedrock occurs naturally in many areas under the subsoil in N. IL and no amount of ammendments is going to permanently alter the existing pH to any significant degree.

Sigh. Won't be looking for privet. Even though I am still considered mid-Atlantic here in northern VA, we are close enough to being southeast and all nine species in the SE U.S are considered invasive and have been linked to declines in honey bee populations as well as those of butterflies as privet outperforms natives. I am trying to move more toward natives here, although I can't resist some that aren't. I will enjoy it vicariously through you, school! Here is a link that might be useful: Private as invasive