I meant to include a request to others that have incorporated bushes into their gardens....I'd love to see your gardens as well!

I use a lot of shrubs in my mixed borders, along with perennials, vines, and a few edible plants. I live on an old farm and so have don't have restrictions as to space, but here are a few photos from my beds. (My apologies for the poor photo quality - I think I need to get better at this!)
{{gwi:226218}}From June 2010

In the bed below I worked on year round interest as it screens a work area from the main driveway. I started with the shrubs and small trees, spaced for their ultimate size and have been filling in around them with herbaceous plants. I planned for varied foliage from the shrubs and perennials, with most of the flowers in the spring, though there are clematis and hydrangeas blooming most of the summer. I don't have any mid to late summer photos. It seems like life gets too busy then.
{{gwi:278789}}From June 5, 2012

From June 2010

and in December, both before and after snow.
{{gwi:278791}}From December 2010

From December 2010

Thanks so much for sharing! Your use of shrubs is also enticing and what a great backdrop! I think I need to go to the library and research 'mixed borders' so I have some method to this change.

As requested, here's are a couple more...

{{gwi:572662}}

Same bed, different angle...

{{gwi:1494}}

Bird's eye view...

One from Spring...

{{gwi:348916}}

tj

Check out Tracy DiSabato-Aust's book The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders With Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs as well as looking for gardening books with lovely photos. If you can find someone with old issues of Fine Gardening magazine, looking through that (or perhaps their website, I am not sure) should give you lots of photos with mixed borders. The garden design forum here on GW often has great info, but you have to be able to ignore the personalities which can sometimes get in the way of the information.

tj, love your gardens. You have done such a nice job with it. There is a nice contrast of colors and textures. I appreciate your posting.
nhbabs, Thanks for that recommendation. I remember looking at DiSabato's book before and it was a good reference. I'm off to look at Fine Gardening online....

tj, what are your steps near the hosta made of?

Sorry to hijack. I also mix shrubs in my beds, but none are as pretty as those already posted. I use hydrangea, especially tardiva and Macrophylla lacecaps, azaleas, camellia, clethra, and viburnum to mention a few.

Now, I think I need to add some of those small conifers! Beautiful.

cyn427- The steps are cast iron with pavers to hide the soil behind the steps. The steps were here when I bought the place in '86 (moved there when I terraced the hill in 2000) and may have come from a factory. It's rusting patina matches the pavers (found at the dump) quite well. There are slabs of flagstone set on edge to hold back the soil on each side near the bottom.

tj