I would probably consider four-o'clocks, for now. They grow fast and spread wide. I have some in a bed with a banana tree and I have never had to replant. I don't know if they re-seed or come back from roots, but I have only planted them once. I think canna looks nice with the tropical things also, but they grow more upright.

Maybe a mass quantity of cannas would work - I will have the pots squeezed together, shoulder-to-shoulder, so vertical would be OK as long as the canna bulbs would last the winter outside in the pots. I've never dug my in-ground cannas, but don't know how they would fare in the pots.

Just to the right of the fence, there is a bed filled with four-o-clocks already, so would lean towards the cannas for variety.

You have a beautiful back yard. I think I would have gone for it also, even with the bamboo. LOL

I would buy the biggest I can afford! Instant WOW, and privacy.

Herbs would be GREAT. I once had a rosemary about 4 foot wide, and 5 foot tall. But it took 3 years to attain that size.

Moni

Something like Taro or Bananas grow fast if you want something tropical, and they would look good with cannas. They probably wouldn't last a winter outdoors (especially bananas), but they're usually fairly cheap. Or you could dig them out and put them in the garage for next year with the cannas.

FYI, was hunting down and old thread and found this one and wanted to post a pic for everyone to see how it turned out. I did two kinds of cannas (from a great neighbor at an HOA plant swap) and one purple fountain grass in the first three pots, plus filled in with herbs like rosemary, basil, thyme and oregano. Mostly used the rosemary and basil this year, but it was nice to have them so close to the back door. The further away three pots got hibiscus and million bells and sweet potato vine. Overall, I loved the whole look, and putting them on a slow drip emitter system with a timer saved them this summer.

Thanks again for all the suggestions! I plan to try and move the hibiscus to the garage for the winter and am vacillating as to taking the cannas in. I've overwintered them in the ground before (here in OKC) but never in a pot. Thoughts?

Mia, I think overwintering cannas in pots in central OK is iffy. Your success would vary from year to year depending on how cold it gets. Last winter they likely would have survived in pots, but the year before they would have frozen.

The general rule-of-thumb with any container plants is that they are considered to be growing one zone colder since they are above ground and subjected to outdoor air temperatures without the insulation of the ground all around them.

So, if you are in zone 7a in OKC, your cannas in containers would be overwintering outdoors in conditions the equivalent of zone 6a.

I also think whether they survive in a container is dependent on how the weather cools down. A long, slow gradual cool-down before freezing temperatures arrived would be better for them than going from warm weather to shockingly cold weather in a matter of a few days. With a long, slow cool-down the plants acclimate better to increasingly colder conditions over a prolonged period of time and seem to handle it better than going from hot to cold pretty suddenly.

Dawn

Your home and pool are very pretty. I hope you share the rest of your yard with us at some point. Well, perhaps you have and I just have not seen it. Thanks for the picture.
Sammy