Ideas for a feature shrub?

I live in Portland, Oregon, in a 1950's split level ranch. My front yard is long and narrow along the street, but we live in a close-knit neighborhood where people walk and stop to chat. The front yard faces south and gets full sun on the west end. The east end is shaded by a very large Japanese maple . I have created a curved berm along the southwest sidewalk side to give the illusion of privacy to part of the yard, and I'm creating a small, flagstone sitting area there. There is another area around the base of the maple that will become a bed on that end of the yard, next to the driveway. The walkway to the front door will be flagstone and go from the sidewalk up to half-circle stairs leading up to the door itself. So, two questions:

1. Does anyone have suggestions for a medium-sized evergreen shrub with 3 season interest to anchor the main bed? I have been thinking about Ceanothus, pruned to be a small tree, since I want the front to be primarily blue & yellow. Maybe some Berberis darwinii or Potentilla (I know it's not evergreen). I don't mind filling in with bulbs, annuals & perennials, but I want the basic structure to be evergreen shrubs so we have some privacy all year.

2. How do you prune an overgrown Japanese maple, and when? It is a gorgeous tree but way too big for the yard. I would never dream of clubbing it or cutting it down, but It makes the front of the house look like a jungle.

Thanks much for any suggestions.

one of my favorite evergreens in the garden is a black dragon cedar - japanese cryptomeria japonica. It is clean and neat. It grows slowly here so I would purchase a 4 or 5 foot to start. The new growth is bright bright green against the dark needles. I think it is beautiful.

Thanks for your suggestion. I looked it up in the plant files, and I'm not sure it's what I'm looking for--at our neighbor's request we just took down a large blue spruce on that corner. With the overgrown Japanese maple already in front, I don't think I want another tree that close to the house. I'm looking more for a shrub no more than 6-8 feet tall. Any other ideas?

Our landscaper said it wouldn't get past eight feet. I have had it two years and no height added that is noticeable. Not a dense tree - branches are layered --with several inches of bare space (trunk) showing between each layer. May be dense as it comes to maturity but I think it would be many many years. I don't have many evergreens so at a loss as to suggestions. Are you interested in open type shrub like a lorapetalum or dense? Do you want something very defined in shape or loose? Ornamental like a virburnum or no flowers?
Ninebark? Physocarpus opulifolius
Fringe tree? Chionanthus virginicus.
Black lace elderberry?
Hard to think of one that is evergreen and not tall or dense.

My first thought was a rhododendron pruned to tree shape, but I'm afraid a rhodie would sunburn now that the spruce is gone. I've also thought about rosa rugosa, but that would leave us pretty exposed during the winter. Other ideas have been a smoke tree pruned every year, Ceanothus or Blue Gem Hebe for the blue flowers and Berberis darwinii for the yellow flowers. I know any of those would do well in this area, but it's too many choices for a beginning gardener to choose from.

I'm looking for something small enough (or loose enough) it doesn't shade the seating area completely, but big enough to provide at least the illusion of privacy year round. The shape doesn't matter really, since I'm starting with just the one feature plant and then landscaping around it.

did you pull up a photo of the fringe tree?
It will perfume the area for a short time. It is beautiful in bloom also - rest of the time it is quite attractive with just its leaves. Nice form in the winter but it is not evergreen.

the hebe sounds good and is evergreen right?

If you want a small tree with yellow flowers that is very beautiful with or without - research witch hazel.. firey orange to the brightest yellow flowers and very nice form. Not evergreen but with some types when the leaves aren't there --the flowers are. Some I think bloom with the leaves.

How much sun does that particular part of the bed get? Rhodies will be able to handle more sun in your climate than they could pretty much anywhere else, but if it's getting a lot of afternoon sun then maybe it still wouldn't be happy.

It gets full sun during the summer from about 10:00 am until it gets dark. I have seen lots of rhododendrons growing well in what seems to be full sun, but I'm really hoping for something less common and more xeric in the front yard. Maybe I'll break down and talk to a landscaper...

Be careful on looking for xeric plants--make sure that they're ones that will be adapted to your climate where you get quite a bit of natural rainfall. A lot of plants that are advertised as xeric are adapted to climates where they get 10-20 inches of rain (or less!) per year, and depending on exactly where you are, you probably get anywhere from 60-100 inches per year which will kill plants like that in a hurry. If what you're really looking for is something that will take care of itself and you don't have to worry about supplemental water, etc then I'd look for native plants--if you google Oregon or Pacific Northwest native plants I'm sure there are some native plant societies in your area that would have some plant lists to look at.

I'm struggling with that myself, ecrane. So. Carolina usually gets quite a bit of rainfall, but all I've seen since I moved here is drought. I have to keep reminding myself that if I buy something xeric, it could get drowned when we return to normal rainfall.

Carterkz - I was looking for the exact same thing for a circular bed in the front corner of my yard, near the driveway entrance. I finally decided on the Black Lace Elderberry. It's not too dense, has very pretty foilage that stays black in this sun, and it has pretty pink blossoms when it blooms. The eventual size will be ok for me, too, but it's easily manageable.

Some of them could drown now too...your drought may well be more rainfall than some of the xeric plants can tolerate. Out west here we have some truly dry climates even when there's not a drought--where I am I don't feel like it's a super dry area (there are definitely worse places!) and in a good year we get 15-20 inches of rain. High Country Gardens website lists annual rainfall tolerance for many of their plants on their website, and you'll find the majority of things do best with under 30 inches of rain per year, or can handle 30-40 inches "with care" which means perfect drainage and no supplemental water from you once they're established. Here's a rainfall map of SC showing typical rainfall which is anywhere from 46-80 inches a year depending on where you are. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/pcpn/sc.gif I don't know how bad your drought is, but you'd have to be close to half your "typical" annual rainfall for a lot of that type of plants to be happy even now while you're in a drought. But if you really are that dry and don't remind replacing a few plants if rainfall goes back to normal then there's no reason not to try some. But you might also consider plants that are native to your area, this is not the first time SC has ever experienced a drought, so some of your native plants are undoubtedly able to survive droughts, but also cope with your normal amount of rainfall.

Anyway, sorry to get a little off topic here, but hopefully carterkz will find the rainfall tolerance discussion useful as well, I don't know if the Pac. Northwest is having a drought now or not, but given the "typical" rainfall for that area it's going to need quite a considerable drought before xeric plants are going to be happy there.

Ecrane, are you saying my BL Elderberry could drown? Even if it could, tho, I don't think it would happen where I have it. It's at the highest point of my land, with a very long downslope, and it's in a raised bed that I built with good drainage, so I think it would be ok.

We're in a severe drought at the moment; I'm waiting for water restrictions to hit here, like they have many other counties.

No, elderberries are fine in lots of climates--I was talking more of traditional xeriscape plants which everyone in your area of the country is all of a sudden wanting to plant because of the drought.