I would hold plants next to your dwarf Escallonia at the nursery. I see more bad combos than good and this location needs a visually pleasing look as you will see it daily. For contrast try Armeria (Thrift). It demands full sun and is drought resistant like the Escallonias and would be in scale. It would not require cutting back. There are different sized cultivars. If I liked that look I would incorporate annuals ie. lavender violas for spring. If you want a ground cover Bacopa's white flowers may compliment the Escallonia. It overtakes small plants here and may need twice yearly cutting back.

I am a fan of forsythia for what you want. I love the spring color and then the bush can be pruned to shape as needed. I cannot stand what the idiot next door has done, so I planted a long row of forsythia. It has been about 4 years and I don't see his mess now. You can let them get thick or you can thin them. They can grow up or be arching. Deer don't bother them and they are tough.

The closest trees are a lovely Japanese maple and a large oak. I haven't had trouble so far growing shrubs in areas closer to the trees than this will be. I admit to a bias against hostas because most of the rest of the yard is quite shady and I have more hostas than I know what to do with! But some will probably make their way into the border as I divide. I'm thinking about bugbane and maybe moving some astilbe and bleeding hearts over here once I get the shrubs figured out.... Started digging today! My first foray into "double-digging", and I think my back will be paying for it tomorrow.

You don't say what your driveway is composed of: gravel, concrete, asphalt? That can make a difference as to what will do well there. The last two hold and radiate a lot of heat. Do you use de-icer on your driveway that gets washed into the beds? Most perennials bloom for two to three weeks. I've found that heliopsis blooms from mid June to frost. However the shortest one I know of is Tuscan Sun which grows 15 to 18 in. 10 to 12 inches is really on the short side for perennials. Veronica 'Goodness Grows' will bloom most of the summer if you don't mind deadheading and Tunic Flower blooms from mid June till frost and is only about 3 inches tall. All of these like a fair amount of sun. Depending on whether you have high open shade or dense shade will determine if some sun lovers will tolerate that side of your driveway. I can't say for sure about the English Daisys but sometimes the bloom times given in catalogs, books and plant tags refers to the range of bloom time which can vary depending on what part of the country you live in.