Bonfire is small for me and seems to be growing slowly but I really like the hypericum albury purple. I even have some extras.

Hedy

Check out the various forms of short rhodies. I have Checkmate, a PJM form, which stays at about 2 1/2 to 3 feet. It has dark mahogany purple foliage in cold weather and purple-green in summer. You can use the American Rhododendron Society's database search to look for other rhodies that stay in your size range, though probably most would have dark green foliage like 'Yaku Prince'.

You could look at Leucathoes which prefer part shade and some have deep red in their leaves, such as L. Curly Red or Scarlotta which have new deep red growth though the older leaves are dark green.

There are a bunch of Pieris that have reddish new growth. Some Mountain Laurel/Kalmis have maroon flowers as well as deep green leaves.

A large perennial like one of the Cimicifuga with deep purple foliage would be about the right size, but wouldn't be evergreen.

IME Wine and Roses weigela is more a purple brown in less than full sun, and not too attractive. I am planning to move mine.

Checkmate:

Here is a link that might be useful: American Rhododendron Society's database search

You could also check any number of physocarpus. There is a smaller one available now called "little devil" which has quite a chocolate color.
I like Nhbabs idea of the rhodie.

That Checkmate is gorgeous. But been there, not done that with the rhodies. Last year I suggested some dwarf rhodies (not for the purple color but because I like them, lol) and they were too pricey for her, and the cheaper ones were too small. My friend is not a gardener, doesn't really want to wait for things to grow, and isn't really patient in terms of experimenting. And, in her defense, I have to say that it is ME who is thinking this sea of chartreuse needs a shot of purple, not her. She seems to be very happy with things... I just know I could make her happier, lol. The trick is talking her into spending the money and convincing her that she WILL be happier!

I should add that her front windows are unusually low, so we do need to keep anything we plant on the small side (hence the dwarf rhodie suggestion on my part).

I also considered a cimicifuga, and while I ruled it out for these two particular spots, I may add one further along the bed (we extended one side of the foundation bed to run along the driveway).

I almost responded saying that I had checked out physocarpus today and they are too big, but on a whim I just googled dwarf physocarpus and got a hit for a Tiny Wine. Only trouble is I can't find any image of it except a close-up of it's blooms. I'll keep looking.

PM2, thanks for the info on the Midnight Wine. I guess this won't work for this spot, but again, maybe for the stretch along the driveway. She wants the front two beds to be pretty similar, but we are mixing things up a bit along the driveway, although trying to keep the same color scheme.

Hedy, would you mind taking a look at the link below, scrolling down to Gazania's photo of her Bonfire, and telling me if yours is similar? I am going to go look up the hypericum you mentioned. Thanks! (By the way, right below that Bonfire photo is a photo of a barberry with chartreuse shrubs, justt o rub in how great it would look with my spireas....)

Thank you all!
Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: thread with euphorbia Bonfire

Just got home from running errands, and was affronted at the shopping center with row after row of barberries beautifully situated between spireas and gold-thread chamaecyparis, looking stunning and taunting me... It's bad enough when shopping centers and gas stations have nicer plantings than I do, but do I really have to endure this? ;)

Honestly, I'm amazed at all the barberry I'm noticing the last few days, lol. I'm noticing lots of other dark-leaved stuff too. Japanese maples are used a lot to offset the chartreuse and green, but obviously that won't work for my situation.

Part of me keeps thinking, will the environment really be that much more affected with the addtion of two more barberry plants, plants that are already sitting a mere 7 miles away in a nursery?

But I have to stick to my priniciples, I guess. Just like when my kids or DH sighs when I go along behind them and pull a toilet paper tube or juice bottle out of the garbage to recycle it. They say, it's only one tube. And my answer is, if everyone in this country today recycled one toilet paper tube (bottle, etc.), do you know how many paper towel tubes would stay out of the landfill?

So the search continues....

:)
Dee

Hey Dee, what about something like a dark penstemon like "husker's red"? It is up and quite big fairly early in the spring and stays dark. Maybe a few of those in each spot you would put a shrub.
Also, what about weigela 'minuet'? It's purple and stays very low and small.

For what it's worth, Dee, there Is a purple-leaved
weigela midway between "Wine and Roses" and
the quite small "Midnight Wine", called "Fine Wine";
it reaches 2'-4' in height, and as wide. My personal
experience with these is that too much shade washes
out the purple color somewhat, and obviously they don't
bloom as profusely - still, ANY purple coloration at all
will provide a nice contrast to the gold spireas.

However, IMHO nhbabs offers the perfect solution -
that diminutive PJM "Checkmate" is a beauty! I'm
going to have to run out to Weston Nurseries and get one. . .

Carl

Second thoughts: in you're no colder than Zone 6, how
about Euphorbia 'Blackbird', with evergreen purple
foliage, as well as chartreuse bracts?

Or possibly Eupatorium 'Chocolate". . .which can reach
up to 5', but has purplish leaves.

Or even good old perilla - definitely purple and re-seeds
very reliably!

There ARE dwarf Japanese maples, you know, that will
stay under 4'

Carl

Well, Carl, it's the perfect solution for you and me, who both are ready to run out and buy one, lol, but not for my friend. As I said above, she doesn't want to spend the money on or wait for a dwarf rhodie. I just did a quick search on Checkmate and while the first seven sites I looked at (all nurseries) didn't give a price, these dwarf rhodies are usually more expensive and smaller and my non-gardening friend wants more bang faster for the buck. Doesn't mean I won't shop around for one for myself...

I'm going to look into the weigelas, but since there is nothing else evergreen in the beds except the boxwoods, I really need an evergreen if I am going to replace them. I might just do as thyme suggests and pop some penstemons in. I have some Huskers Red myself and they reach a taller height in my garden than the heucheras presently do in my friend's beds, so perhaps if I add them as well as the heucheras, and place a cimicifuga and maybe one of the dwarf weigelas along the driveway, that will help break things up.

Of course, here I am spending my friend's money! She may not agree to any of this, as she is happy with the beds, and I'm not sure if I can convince her to spend more money for plants she doesn't think she needs.

Thank you for all your help. While I don't think I will be able to replace the boxwoods, I have some great ideas for other thinigs to pop in in other spots, as well as some nice suggestions for my own garden!

Dee