I think for my first front garden at my new home I'll go tropical - I change the theme every year - Banana Trees, some canna and gingers ... hedychium, globba, costus and curcuma along with caladiums, tropical hibiscus and probably a candle bush for late summer into fall blooming ... senna alata. I'm also going to put in some night bloomers ... moon vine, datura inoxia and trichosanthese kirilowii.
Since I live on a cul-de-sac we don't get any through traffic so I won't feel nervous about putting some of my rarer plants out front for the summer.