Well, I'm back from Florida with a design question. My parents have a condo on the ocean in the Palm Beach area. My mom is dissatified with the small garden in front of the building. In particular, she doesn't like these Croton-thingies, as she finds them too autumnal looking. As is painfully obvious from the previous sentence, I know nothing about tropical plants, but I agree with her that the orange of the foliage doesn't really work with the white Hibiscus (at least I know what that is). The building is white and peach. This garden faces west and is in sun for most of the day.
The north end of the garden has a challenge, with this utility panel which needs to be camoflaged.
There is also a problem with the Crotons dying in the area around this Palm. Here's the view from the south end which shows a more prominent utility box.
The garden is symmetrical, which compounds the problem of dying plants. The Palms and Hibiscus will probably have to stay, but I don't know whether the condo association would be willing to get rid of part or all of the hedge.
My mom likes this plant, which is in the garden of the building next door.
This plant is another candidate,
but I'm concerned that both plants might be too large. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please share them. I'm clueless.