I utilize potted ivy/hanging geraniums elsewhere with great success. With a little deadheading & fertilizer, they thrive. It's the middle of Dec and they're throwing out blooms like crazy. So yes, geraniums were at the top of my list although I was thinking about branching out. I love lantana although my experience with them is that they get quite large. And in my part of the world, they don't bloom well w/ winter shadows. Do you think a mish-mash of different flowers would be aesthetically better or worse than a consistent mix of 1-2 plant types (i.e. geraniums & petunias)? Also, do you keep your planter box flowers in their pots so you can trade them out twice a year? Or do you plant them in soil and treat them like perennials? Remember: I'm within 5 miles from the ocean and don't have to worry about frost. Southern CA has its issues, but weather is not one of them. I've lived in Seattle & Dallas and learned that many of the traditional rules don't apply to our gardens. Thanks...

We mass-planted Peach, Coral, Apricot, Sweet and White in our garden for landscaping use a few years back. They have been bulletproof in terms of performance reliability, foliage disease resistance, heat & cold tolerance. Peach has the most handsome foliage and the first to bloom, coral has the most dwarf form after six years in ground, apricot is similar to peach but paler green leaves, and sweet/white are the tallest and their blooms come in the last. They all are beautiful in each’s own way and offer great impacts in the various locations we assigned them. By the way, White’s bloom form is the most double, has that old garden rose look.

Here are some pic update from my J&P sale and Wayside Gardens sale. Wayside Gardens sale roses (The Ancient Mariner x2 , Princess Alexandra Of Kent x2 , Darcey Bussell, Tess of the d'Urbervilles) were stressed from shipping in high temperature then got hit by the sun in my garden even they were under a tree, all the new growths died and it took a while with a lot of extra care before some new growths showed up again. Here are the pics of the 2 with slowest growths (The Ancient Mariner and Princess Alexandra Of Kent) taking today. I wasn't sure that these 2 could make it. I'm glad they did. The first J&P sale roses are doing great (Cabana x2, Hypnotized! x2, Daring Spirit (tree), JP 2020 Exclusive Preview Striped). Cabana Faked Hypnotized! Daring Spirit (tree)

Beautiful post. JC, my MW also shows that colour usually for her first flush, but not this year. It must be the cool cloudy spring. Stephanie, please show more Valentine. I have a little one transplanted late last Fall after letting it languish in a poor setting and am anxiously awaiting its bloom.