I have a rosemary and a Spanish lavender along a gravel path leading to my front door. Western exposure, very little summer water, very visible to street, and people comment how nice it looks even in winter. I think the rosemary looks a little "greener" than the lavender in winter.

Just was out nipping away at it to keep the rosemary from spilling too far over the path. They're on a bit of a mound. It never gets more than 3' or so tall. Just don't buy the upright or the creeping. Look for one that is semi-up/trailing and says 3-4' tall.

The lavender is 10 years old (and has been moved once) and is spectacular. Who says they're short lived in winter wet zone 8???

On the other side is Pinus strobus 'Blue Shag', beautiful blue color, compact, soft needles, slow grower and looks great.

Have fun selecting just the right plant:)

You could look for a varigated rosemary for a little extra interest too. I have one that's doing quite well, it's about three and only a couple feet tall and wide. It takes the pruning for kitchen use quite happily, so if you needed to keep it small, I don't think that would be a problem. I planted a hardy cyclamen under its north side, and it's happily making babies all around that side of the rosemary. Both like our dry summer weather. Rosemary and lavender are such pleasures to weed around with their fragrances too.

I like some pinks for their winter foliage too, but they tend to be shorter than you're asking for. The grassy type ones with the greyish-blue foliage are the ones I'm thinking of.

Come to think of it, there're probably some nice grasses that would do well there too.

If you want something with striking design, what about a phormium? I just love the Sundowner colours and it really does make a statement. Bonus is that deer don't like them.

You will have a lot of choices. I second the Pinus Blue Shag, I had one and it was very very nice. A moundy bushy thing, long soft blue needles, and about the size you're looking for. Mine did get summer water. Pinus strobus is the eastern white pine so I would not expect it to go all summer with no water.

Phormiums, or new zealand flaxes, are also excellent choices. Most of what you see in nurseries these days are quite dwarf, so about 3 or 4 feet instead of the 20 ft of the much older varieties. In New Zealand they are considered wetland plants but here they need good drainage and are relatively drought tolerant. Go figure. I've actually posted on the Australian forum to ask about that and they confirmed that yes they are swamp plants there!

You might look at heathers too. They're evergreen, but they will need careful attention to water the first two years before becoming quite drought tolerant. There seem to be dozens, if not hundreds, of varieties of all different sizes, bloom season, flower color and even colored foliage. I particularly like the ones that get pale yellow or red foliage in winter or spring. Some are low and spreading, and some are upright. You just kinda have to go to the nursery and see what they've got. There's also a specialty heather nursery on Harstine Island outside of Shelton that sells mail order, called Heaths and Heathers.

I have a multi colored abelia that I like. It was supposed to be variegated but instead it looks like it might be Confetti, with splashes of yellow and pink on the leaves. Abelias are evergreen except in particularly harsh winters, and they are very drought tolerant. I once won Best in Show at the county fair with a stem of Abelia grandiflora that had not been watered once all summer. But, I've found that even the dwarf ones that are supposed to stay about 3ft, get bigger. And pruning ruins them. But they are gorgeous in late summer and the butterflies love them.

Variegated yuccas are nice too. Very drought tolerant and evergreen and they're dwarf so about the size you're looking for, but very spiky so don't plant near a path. Striking architectural form.

Thank you all for good advices. I'll consider all of them and hope to post picture with a view of that corner later.

I like having Pinus strobus, but does anybody knows what should be min distance between it and black currant bushes to prevent some problem?

Heather. I like heather but mine got so woody that does not look good any more. How do you care about heather for it to look good in long run?

Don't know how about you, i always have a hard time to select something from such a big choice.

How about a Choisya ternata or a Grevillea Canberra, they are very nice plants. Cheers, Joe