Out of necessity I grow all my vegetables in very large pots. They are on the East side of the house so get morning sun and some get all-day sun. I put the less-heat-tolerant ones next to the house where they are shaded in the afternoon, and the ones that love sun closer to the fence line. And, of course, they all got daily water and a monthly dose of organic fertilizer. Last summer I had japanese-style eggplant, peppers, beans, a variety of summer squashes, herbs, and tomatoes. This winter I have peas, cauliflower, broccoli, kale and chard. I had luck with tomatoes last summer for the first time. I bought cultivars that are bred to grow in the heat: SummerSet and Heat Meister. They were in full sun, but up against a wooden fence that, I think, deadened some of the heat. I had read that Japanese Eggplants do better here in our heat. So far that is correct; and, one plant is going on it's 3rd summer and the other its second. I just cut back the peppers as an experiment to see if they'll come back as well. I try to grow plants "up" if possible to save room. I even discovered that summer squash can be tied-up to climb a pole, which saves walk-way space. Good luck!

Khalid: Your Michelangelo is stunning & gorgeous color-blend. LOVE THAT !! Port Sunlight (deep orange) and Molineux (yellow/orange) are known to be LOW in thorns & smaller & compact bush with little scent. Golden Celebration is wider-spaced large thorns. http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.225184 If it has very large thorns but wider-spaced apart, and vigorous & big bush, it could be Crown Princess Mag. (medium fruity scent large climber with thick stem). Below is cluster of Crown Princess Mag. in June, I used sulfate of potash, resulting in cluster-blooming. Crown Princess starts deep orange-yellow, but fades to lighter yellow. But when I compare my CPM leaves to your "Golden Celebration", My CPM' leaf is bigger & darker & more elongated, versus roundish & smaller Golden Celebration or Teasing Georgia leaves. Bloom color changes, with high-phosphorus fertilizer or compost, blooms shift to the red-zone, resulting in apricot/orange, rather than yellow. Since I used sulfate of potash (high potassium) my CPM is yellowish, rather than deep orange. CAUTION: sulfate of potash, anything high in potassium tend to BLEACH blooms. One fall I put too much sulfate of potash on W.S. 2000 and the blooms became whitish, rather than deep red/purple. UP the potassium, you'll lower phosphorus (needed to shift bloom to red-zone). Below is your "Golden Celebration" which I copied here to compare:

GreenThumb0306 & Violet Verbina, not to overstate what might seem obvious, but the best regional recommendations might be found at a good local nursery. While I'm sure everyone in the forum has their own personal favorites (I'm a huge fan of mangroves myself) the number of solid suggestions you get that are really a good fit for your location might be few, or might be a little more based on conjecture. Maybe it's worth taking a trip to a nursery to browse a bit and then, if you have any questions about a particular plant, post those more specific questions. I bet there's a lot of great insight to be had if you narrow the scope of the question just a bit. Good luck with whatever you choose!

SWGB was first published in 1954 and the most recent, ninth edition, was published in 2012. So no, it is not reissued every year. And the essential info does not change...it just gets added to and updated. The amount of variables and data compiled for the SWG zones is very detailed. Which is why there are 24 zones just for the state of CA compared to only 13 zones for the entire country under the USDA zonal system. The factors that are evaluated to develop the zones include latitude, elevation, marine influence, continental air influence, rainfall, both high and low temperatures, mountains and hills, growing seasons and microclimates. For example, the Bay area where you live has 4 distinct climate zones. The book does not just address California....it encompasses pretty much everything west of the Rockies, as gardening in the western portion of the country is really very different from anywhere else. Even though we may share similar USDA zones. The elder could certainly be used as a hedge plant. And is, in mixed hedgerow settings as are common in the UK. But with a hedge comprised of a single plant species/cultivar, there is always the risk of one or more dying before its time for whatever reason, leaving a too obvious gap in the hedge. Mix it up. It is a lot more interesting and contributes more to biodiversity on all levels. I sure wouldn't like the look of it pruned into a formal or geometric shape (and it wouldn't stay like that for very long) but nothing says you can't have an untrimmed, more natural looking specimen plant surrounded by low trimmed hedges.