girlnamedgalez, I want to thank you for suggesting Dragon wing begonias. I appreciate all the ideas, but as you probably saw above that's what I went with. Now I am totally sold on them. I took nine cuttings which have rooted. For good measure I just now cut the large plants back by 2/3, lifted the roots out of the pots and put in the green house to get an early start next spring. This photo of the mixed planting was taken earlier in the year. The Dragon wing eventually increased to over twice this size ... ... The single Dragon wing in the other pot also increased to two or three times this size ... ... They were always fresh looking and provided a lot of color with little care through the season. It's definitely a plant I'll use in more places next year.

Hands Up at the frog end to represent rushes, Munchkin Fire, or Fairy Dust for some gold, then maybe a plain green like venusta or Baby Bunting, but I think BME, or Karin's Baby Blue Eyes would look great with the first two I mentioned. Beautiful job on the planter! Yes, please post pics when done planting!

Ok, thanks everyone!!!! I wrote every plant down and am heading to O’Tooles this afternoon with my list (wish me luck that the line isn’t insane! Haha). Btw I was thinking about it and realized the majority of my O’Tooles plants don’t last. Or even things like my hydrangea which is supposed to be huge has barely grown at all in over 2 years (or 3... can’t remember). I thought it was just me but my Lowe’s and Home Depot plants seem to do fine... problem is the selection isn’t as good. Has anyone had this issue with O’Tooles or could it just be random bad luck? 🤔

zone is min winter temps on the worst day of winter.. z5 is about half the US ... and its useless to us ... big city name .... in every post please ... how hot does all that black top get in august .. that is going to be your base problem ... and will probably lead to watering issues .. keep in mind .. the most important thing in a pot is the media.. not the plants. .. with a good proper media.. which can hold the moisture needed.. you might be able to overcome the heat of the driveway ... the other side of that coin is that the cool nights are the usual recovery period for plant stress .. and that pavement can hold the heat long into the night.. reducing the or eliminating the recovery period ... that about lantana ... they might be able to take the heat ...literally and figuratively .... but they are most likely annual in z5 ... this would not be a good place for any kind of conifer ... stick to annuals .. as winter pot storage can also be a problem ... ken