As far as "need color" how about a dwarf weigelia (or however you spell it) var. "Wine and Roses." I have seen dwarf varieties at the nurseries around here. A little smaller but gorgeous--Heuchera, i.e. "Coral Bells." That comes in many colorful leaf varieties, including red leafed. I have seen it get quite large in some landscaping situtations, so maybe there are larger varieties, so I would check the label or ask about that. I love Diablo ninebark, but that gets HUGE. Maybe they will come out with a dwarf variety of that. I have seen some mention if it, but never seen it in a nursery.

Ken, that is not a very large tree :-) Check the scale - it's growing in a bed of heather. The photo shows one about 3' tall at the most. FWIW, this is a dwarf conifer and only gets around 8' tall, maybe as much as 15' over a very long period of time. It is commonly sold in quite small starter sizes (quart size pots) for this exact purpose of container planting. And grown in a container it would take even longer (and with routine potting up) to ever achieve that projected mature size. It may be different in your neck of the woods but growing plants in containers - ALL kinds of plants - is a very common practice here. There are some who devote an entire business practice to container design.....and not just seasonal container design. Maybe it has to do with our rather urban setting and the fact that many folks don't have any land......or very much land.......in which to plant directly. Lots of condos, townhomes, zero lot line houses and even floating homes, all of which make inground gardening difficult, if not impossible. And contrary to what you might think - these plants thrive for many years under these conditions. I grow my entire collection of both conifers and Japanese maples in containers and have done so for years. The only consideration for long term container growth for any kind of hardy plant in my and cadence's location is the quality of the potting soil and attention to watering and routine fertilization. And the need for some rather infrequent root pruning. Expand your outlook and broaden your horizons :-) Not everyone gardens in acres of sandy Michigan prairie!!

A few years ago I bought some big glazed pots at Christmas Tree Shop that were supposed to be frost-proof. I was a little skeptical since they were inexpensive, but so far they're doing OK, even though I don't empty them. I bought a big concrete planter a couple of years ago and I like it so much I'm trying to be careful with it. It's too big and heavy to move much and we have no room inside, but I've been emptying the dirt out, turning it upside down with a couple of 1 x 2's under it to lift it off the bluestone under it, and putting a pebble over the drain hole. So far so good, though this is only the second winter. Other glazed pots or terra cotta pots haven't fared so well, and they tend to spall and break in layers rather than just cracking in place. I missed the Mahoney's sale so far, probably just as well, though it sure sounded tempting. I did go in briefly on the 26th to see if a PVC Christmas tree I liked was left--it wasn't. I drooled over those coppery pots from a distance but didn't realize they were on sale, otherwise one probably would have gone home with me! I keep wavering between my vow to not buy any more heavy planters, and my lust for the gorgeous ones. But I only have so much space! I did successfully resist a really nice concrete one by Campania at Homegoods that was marked down to a very low price a few weeks ago. Someone got a good deal on that one. Why is it that really nice resin or fiberglass planters are as expensive or more so than pottery? They're SO much more practical, but hard to afford. I'm pasting below a link to the care instructions posted by Campania, the maker of the cast stone (AKA concrete) planter I mentioned above. Here is a link that might be useful: Canpania planter winter care instructions

Get some Terro ant baits from the big box stores and follow the instructions. It will wipe out the colony in a week or two.