I have a long narrow bed that runs the length of my front porch -- 3' deep by 25' long -- planted with ten dahlias of varying heights and colors. They are "staked" with decorative ivory-colored poles and iron structures. The front boundary of the bed is outlined with a row of natural stones, and the bed is mulched.

Earlier this spring, I dug out three barberry bushes because they were hard to weed around, and also they made the bed look cluttered, but now the mulched base of the bed looks bare. Does anyone have any suggestions for a perennial that is low-growing and non-invasive that would "fill in" at the feet of the dahlias? The bed faces east and gets about 5 hours of morning and mid-day sun. I'm new at this, and I got plunged into gardening the hard way when I bought a house 3 years ago with a small lawn that has 20 flower beds in it! I experimented with a lot of things the first two years, but now my goal is to get things as low maintenance as absolutely possible! (Low maintenance is good. NO Maintenance is better!) Any suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated!