? annuals or perennials along hot tar driveway bed

as i'm browsing through my catalogues, i'm trying to stay focused on what i need and want to accomplish. easier said than done. anyways, i want to start and refine my beds to a more "cottage garden" feel. i like the wild and abundant feel.
i have a problem with finding plants that will work up against the hot tar driveway. this bed is long and i also have a smaller bed on the other side.

i would appreciate any help you might be able to give me on flowers you've had good luck with up against the hot tar. the soil is good, well drained and leaning towards sandy, especially deeper down. i amend, with compost, as i go along and use a thin 1" layer of fine bark mulch on top. this area gets full sun for most of the day.

debi z,you may find that you will pick up a zone in this area,because of the refelctive heat,I find I have picked up my zone by putting a solid cedar fence around mine,it cuts down the wind,I first noticed it with frost,all around outside the fence could have a heavy frost,and th backyard would be nice and green.
you may need to mulch it heavy,because of this.
Root

Do you want something tall or short? What about sedums? They're heat and drought tolerant, and cover nicely (too nicely sometimes!).

For annuals-marigolds and calendulas do well in heat. With the dark tar absorbing, not reflecting like white concrete-should lessen the chance of leaf burn.

debi_z............how about some beautiful, tall Zinnias, with some small dwarf marigolds, or vinca? You could also plant some portulaca or purselane in the ver front by the edge. All are extremely tolerant of heat and drought. And a small word of advice here, be sure to water from the bottom, as Marigold and Zinnias are prone to mildew if watered from above.

"eyes"

Debi z...how about some rudbeckia? :)

Debi, I have sweet alyssum planted beside our hot asphalt driveway in a very sloped bed that is impossible to water: it never skips a beat. And once you have it, you will always have it (reseeds every year with no work involved).

Snapdragons also thrive beside our driveway.

For perennials, how about some of the low-growing thyme for a groundcover? Same as alyssum, but it is able to withstand being walked on, never cares if it goes without water for months at a time, and it smells wonderful. Blue fescue grass also thrives beside our driveway; so does feverfew and silver sage (actually this is a biennial). Lavender, too. Can you tell I grow a lot of herbs :)

Thyme is lovely. We have it edging the corner bed where the sidewalk and our driveway meet. This is what that corner looked like in April 1999, when we first saw the house: http://davesgarden.com/j/si/33216/ I'm looking in my archives to find a picture of the bed that shows the thyme and other stuff.

I thought I'd add this picture I took a few years back BDG (before digital camera). This fellow lines his driveway on both sides with hundreds of marigolds. He grows them in his greenhouse from seed, so he doesn't have to mortage the house to pay for them! It does, however, illustrate how lovely the color is.

Wow! And what's the flower in the window boxes and over the garage doors?

Yes, Gardenwife, believe it or not, those were all petunias.. purple waves, I think. Even from seed, this man spends lots of $$$$ on his gardens. He has all sorts of dahlias and cottage garden perennials, as well. I've never even considered such masses of one type of plant like he has, but I have to admit it's showy!

wow everybody, i have a lot to check out.
i have had marigolds do well and portulaca, i have had down on the end next to the cement curb, they did real well last year.
i have tried poppy's and they are not doing well there.
the cosmos were bending over into the driveway and the one verbena i had was climbing out over the tar.
eyes, you sent me some white marigold seeds which i think i'll try with my other yellows. those should look nice. rudbeckia, you can't see them but i have 4 or 5 bunches of rudbeckia goldstrum there, but further back in line with the trees. what other type of rudbeckia's would you recommend?
thyme...i have tried several times in a couple of different locations with no luck. maybe i water them too much. or maybe it is the mulch? i don't know...
well i'm off to my catalogues. thanks everyone. this is great.

debi z, I adore Rudbeckia Goldstrum! :) I planted Rudbeckia Herbstone last summer...waiting to see if it survived the drought. I also have Echinacea Magnus and White Swan, Monarda Prairie Night (very pretty lavender but it spreads fast!), and Sedum Autumn Joy next to our driveway and they have done well in full sun. Thyme and lavender are wonderful ideas...will have to try them this season! I am sorry that I don't have any pics...haven't mastered the posting part yet!

Hey, Rudbeckia - give this http://davesgarden.com/j/viewentry/24595/ a go and see if that helps. :)

Gardenwife, you are so clever. I've got to save the link to that sight. You explain things much better than I!

Gardenwife...thank you! Floridian also gave me some great pointers on posting...hope to have our scanner hooked up soon...will be going digital soon and your instruct. will help me post garden pics! Thx :) Oh, Debi Z, how about lupine and cleome?

Glad to be of help! When you're ready to fiddle with re-sizing photos, there's another brief tutorial at this http://davesgarden.com/j/viewentry/10641/ - And several other ones in my Help Files category at http://davesgarden.com/j/vbc/gardenwife/5250/ They're just things I've noticed a lot of people ask about.

G.W....Thank you so much! :)