Patrick, I read your post when you posted and wanted to think this one over before replying. You will experience the same weather conditions as myself, having to take the cold and frosts every now and then.
The planting bed facing west will be prone to the coldest of our blustery winter wind when the cold fronts push thru. Is there any kind of protection like tree canopy nearby?
The Tropical Hibiscus are very sensitive to the cold winds and will do better not exposed to such.
Of the tropical Hibiscus I have found the 'Snow Queen' and 'Fire And Ice' pretty hardy to such winds with only leaf drop. They will make a fast recovery from such leaf drop. I have found the other types of tropical Hibiscus slow to leaf back out and even killed to the ground.
'Snow Queen'
'Fire And Ice'
The Pentas will need to be replaced every so often and once the C. Jasmine is established as a ground cover it will become hard to replace them without damage to the Jasmine.
If you and your wife decide on Pentas plant them in large decorative pots sitting among your Jasmine ground cover. But you will have to keep them watered in pots.
If you want really low maintenance, in the pot idea in the Jasmine bed, plant the smaller leaf type of the red flowering Crown Of Thorns.
The decorative pot idea can give you and your wife many interesting choices and even planting mixed types of plants in the pots together depending on the pot size.
Crown Of Thorns
