Could it be Lotus berthelotii ? We need a better description to know if it's a ground cover, vine, shrub, or ??? Height ? Foliage? There is nothing identifiable in your photo. Sorry.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lotus+berthelotii&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjk5NXt0r7UAhUJbiYKHV4NC40Q_AUIBigB&biw=1920&bih=940

Are you referring to the upright one? Could it possibly be Anigozanthos? So-called Kangaroo Paws.

Yep, the upright one is definitely Anigozanthos. Bit mystified by the Bougainvillea reference...

Kangaroo Paws

I see a rust colored Anigozanthus in the background but also a bright red-orange in the foreground that looks to be a Zauschnaria, aka California fuchsia. As a CA native I would assume that to be a more likely choice to cover large open, hillsides. Zauschnarias also have much more of a groundcovering habit than do the kangaroo paws.

Ah! Now I see it. I'm sure gg is correct.

Tecomaria capensis (Cape Honeysuckle). It is very commonly used on hillsides in residential communities of Southern CA. Often it is sheared to about 2-2.5' high when used in that manner. At the height of the bloom, it is beautiful---and the hummingbirds go crazy for the nectar.

ETA: Just to clarify, the plant in your photo is also Tecomaria capensis. They can get quite large if not sheared, and are aggressive growers. (Shearing limits flower production, but they are generally flower machines.) That planter in your OP isn't really large enough for the estimated 15-1 gal. Tecomaria plants, plus other species---about 4-1 gal. Tecomaria plants would happily fill in that space all by themselves. Mature width is 6-8', but the lax canes that are allowed to run along the ground will root too. And, if allowed, and especially if they have a bit of support, they can top 10' in height. But they are relatively common here and inexpensive, as far as nursery plants go. It appears they packed them in to provide some quick landscape color.

no.. its yellow.. and its a fire hydrant.. crikey ... ken

I think we need a much better and more close up shot to confirm.......even by enlarging, the plant is barley visible and we are lacking any detail. It seems to be planted in multiples, much like the anigozanthus has, and that seems like overkill for a traffic circle with the Tecoma!! That may well be what's planted on the open hillsides but I'd be very surprised if it was what is planted in the traffic circle.

Because the other two end planters, with bird of paradise with kangaroo paws, and the massed grass is so professional in design, gardengal? :D

I'll admit if wrong, but the OP's plants have the bright green color, upright stems and multiple leaflets of the Cape Honeysuckle. Zauschnarias tend to be grayish foliaged, small leaved, and more mound-like perennial, or sub-shrub, in form.

Tecomaria (red cultivar in photo--has same form as orange) above
Below is a Zauschnaria stem.

I don't have a good photo showing the Zauschnaria's form, but a member did post a photo in the CA forums recently that does: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4693841/clarkia-farewell-to-spring?n=2
It is the solo grayish plant in the corner.

Are we looking at the same photo?? I see nothing of what you are describing in the traffic circle photo. Massed grass?? Zauschnarias do not all have gray foliage and I am quite familiar with the plant myself.....they do grow up here very well and are not at all uncommon in gardens or in nurseries.

Zauschnaria

Tecoma capensis ?

Thanks for that - the close up makes a HUGE difference!! And I most willing concede that it is NOT Zauschnaria but indeed the Tecoma :-) But I still have to wonder at the wisdom of including that plant in particular in a traffic circle or end of street planting as this appears to be. I would have thought that lower growing and more see-through plants (and of a smaller scale than the Tecoma) would be far better suited!!

Yes carol, I should have written Tecoma, rather than the old name Tecomaria. Decades of using old names die with difficulty for some plants. Just as Zauschneria is now Epilobium, depending upon name resistance of the labeler.

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gardengal, I was only there briefly. But it appears they just paid the landscape maintenance company to throw in new plants to renovate the landscape. The strip mall's owners don't know about suitable plants and design, and apparently the maintenance workers don't care, or know little more. There are going to be problems maintaining their plant choices down the road, and butchering them is likely going to be their solution.

The massed grass is in the bed in the upper right (sparse and has not filled in yet). The bird of paradise and kangaroo paw is in the distant bed in the upper left of the original photo.

Thank you! You are all so helpful. Thanks for the detective work!

Not surprisingly, recent molecular genetics confirm that the South African Tecomaria is quite distinct from the South American Tecoma, and reinstate it...

Are you saying they are reversing the name change back to Tecomaria?

On a side note, Tecoma stans' range begins in parts of Texas and Arizona, and includes Mexico and Central America, as well as parts of South America, so I don't really think of it as "South American".

Yes it's Tecomaria.