I absolutely love my little Diablo purple ninebark. I also have Coppertina and Centre Glow. Super little shrubs! :)

I have the regular Limelight which is gorgeous but big and really brightens but if you worry about the color then they're out. As for the Ninebarks, one of my favorites and have quite a number, but they also get 7 foot or so. I did add a Vanilla Strawberry - it's young but lovely. Starts white blooms and pink up on into end of summer/fall. I just bought Hydrangea Little Honey which I hope works out here and may be what you need. Yellow leaves and white blooms. That might be what you are looking for. Other than those, you might try some of the burgundy Weigela's that remain small. I have Dark Horse. Blooms early but atleast you have the dark foliage the rest of the time.
Conifers - a whole bunch of gorgeous dwarfs in blue or gold you could add in there. Go over to the conifers forum for some real eye candy so you can spend a lot of time deciding just which you are interested in.
Cher

I agree, Honalee, the nine-barks are gorgeous. I have the regular diablo in the back, now almost 8' tall as well as a couple of the dwarf diablos. They stayed less than 4', very wispy too. Love, love, love the foliage - and great at attracting wildlife too.

I hadn't thought of weigelas for that bed, chohio - hmmmm. I do have the wine and roses in the back, which dies to the ground each winter but it is just what I'm looking for in theory. Although I don't think I've ever seen it in someone's yard, I hear that Tango weigela is more hardy in this area. If I were to combine that with a dwarf conifer, it would reference the partial side hedges on my property line of medora juniper and ruby glow barberry. I like it.

I think I'll have to make a new bed somewhere for the hydrangeas, lol :)

I am feeling the same way about daylilies right now. I just took out one that was ugly (light lavender with buff eye, gag!) and am trying to mask a few others that are looking ratty right now with fall bloomers.

Eupatorium 'Cocolate' might work. Dark purple/green foliage and white flowers in later fall. Mine has never bloomed- our frosts always get to it before then. But it is well worth growing for the foliage alone. Gets about four feet tall and very tidy looking. Not sure if it would be completely hardy for you though, lowest rating is zone 4/5. I don't grow it myself, but Phlox paniculata 'Starfire' is said to have purple overlay over dark green foliage- magenta flowers.
CMK

What size and shape are you looking for in a conifer?

Your profile says you are in Canada, the folks at the link are good people and ship (small) plants.

tj

Here is a link that might be useful: Whistling Gardens

Thanks for the suggestion CMK. The eupatorium is exactly the colours I prefer but I think that, although I can grow Joe Pye Weed here, this species wouldn't be hardy.

And thank you too for the link tj. I'm leaning towards a bluish dwarf conifer, either in a tight mounded form or columnar, less than 3'- 4' tall. I think that would contrast nicely with a tango weigela in the same bed, the medora junipers further away. Do you have any personal favourites along that line?

Picea pungens (Colorado Blue Spruce) and Abies concolor may be your best blues to choose from in your zone.

Mounding:

Picea pungens 'St. Mary's Broom'

Picea glauca may also work, but not as blue...

Picea glauca 'Cecilia'

...and how it looks with others...

{{gwi:599444}}

Upright:

Abies concolor 'Compacta'

{{gwi:613756}}

Uprights can be tough to hold to a given height as conifers never stop growing. That 'Compacta' took 5 years to get to 2 feet and is now growing about 6 inches a year.

The link has more pungens pix.

Yes, I am a conifer enabler. lol

tj

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea pungens pix

Yes tj, you ARE a very good enabler :) I have now been able to narrow down my conifer choice to either the "St Mary's Broom" or "Mrs Cesarini".

Ha, who am I fooling? I'll surely end up with both!

And all those day lilies which I initially removed from the beds around the house in order to tidy them up? Well, those that have not yet been given away (50 or so), I have now decided to keep and plant in my hellstrip. I think that I must rearrange my gardens more than I move the furniture around inside...

TJ, that 3rd photo is killer! Love those conifers with the rock.

Christin, I have to laugh about how much we think alike about specific plants. When I first read the post I thought about chocolate joe too!

Do spireas do OK for you? I was thinking about crisp leaf spirea. The foliage comes out in spring with a darker color, pretty hot pink flowers and the fall color on them is really nice. They can be pruned back if you want to keep it a specific size. Kind of boring in the winter but if you have a couple small conifers for winter interest I can picture the crisp leaf blending nicely with conifers.

Yes thyme, spirea is hardy here - and the crisp leaf type certainly does look interesting. In the back of my mind, I'm planning on a new "chartreuse" bed that will have sem false spirea, little lime hydrangea and golden mop falsecypress - just have to figure out exactly where I can put it...

I like the idea of dwarf shrubs like perhaps dwarf
'golden carpet' spiraea
{{gwi:691340}}

or what about ornamental grass, like this;
Oatgrass

blue fescue

or perhaps yucca

Not sure what would be hardy for your zone.

flora