Fusing color and texture in unexpected ways

The air is crisp and clear and the sky is sparkling blue here in Northern California on this mid January day.
After weeks of gray cloudy days and a relentless steady pouring rain the soil is too wet to work so I am planning out the planting schemes for my front entry container garden.

One has to walk up a 25 foot long gray cracked concrete driveway to reach the slightly sagging entry gate that adjoins the much more shabby than chic white painted picket fence that surrounds my small suburban front yard.

It’s not the most aesthetic sequence of arrival to greet a visitor with so I have introduced a clustering of bright blue glazed pots of various sizes on either side of the entry gate in hopes of infusing a more ‘fun and colorful’ sense of entry .

Women have known for years that indeed, size does matter. This aspect is not lost in setting up my container clustering. The two largest pots standing on either side of my entry gate are almost as tall as the picket fence ; 3 feet tall .
Flanking the two main dominant pots are a supporting family of shapes and sizes of blue glazed pots that work together in lyrical harmony.

During these winter months the two largest dominant pots have been planted with 4 foot tall conical shaped Alberta Spruce trees that were decorated with twinkle lights and Christmas ornaments. I had a necklace of cranberries and popcorn wrapped around the trees but after two weeks of bird and other ‘urban wildlife’( as in rats ) poop greeting me in large quantities every morning I decided to disrobe the trees of their culinary necklace.

But it now time to plan the spring and summer show !
Out with the cone head spruce trees and in with something that is going to say wow wow wow welcome.
It has to be big and bountiful . It has to be infused with vivid color and above all it has to transport the senses !

I’m thinking of a small tree or large flowering shrub in the largest pots to act as florific sentinels.
Perhaps a pair of Cussonia paniculata, a Dr. Suess looking tree that has the common name of ‘snow flake / cabbage tree’ surrounded by a dripping ring of savory succulents.

Or two standard pruned Bougainvillea trees or a pair of giant Bird of Paradise ?

Well, fortunately I have another month to play around with some compositional ideas and in the mean time I am coaching along several flats of succulents for the understory pots.

I suppose I am not alone this winter sitting and plotting my entry planting.

What color and textural combinations are other gardeners planning for the spring and summer season that will set a feeling and evoke an emotion upon entering into their front yards ?