Hi ego,

I'm looking for something similar and not having much luck! Hopefully someone will have some suggestions. There is a new-ish (around here anyhow) barberry, Bagatelle, although it is a bit smaller than what you're looking for. Also, Hypericum Albury Purple might work for you, it's not reliably hardy in my zone.

George, Hypericum 'Albury Purple' would make a nice companion for the Barberry. It has small yellow flowers and decent purple foliage that holds color well. For me it's a dieback shrub and I have had some spotty reliability problems but it's a plant I would not be without.

Sue

I just added some sedum 'Blackjack' to my garden. It has really nice dark purple foliage. Supposedly, it gets about 2ft tall. Sedum is pretty quick to come up in the spring to a decent size.

Sue, my two previous attempts with 'Albury Purple' brought very strange results: I ended up with two root dead plants for two springs on a row, but nevertheless had several volunteer seedlings as far as 40-50 feet apart from the original planting. Though they were easy to pull, that makes me scare to try it again. What if plants survive?
Ginkgonut, great idea, but I'm affraid that it will not work as well due to the fact that whole bed is well watered by spray head sprinkler.
I have a gorgeous sedum 'Purple Emperor' and kill it twice in that bed before realising that they prefer to be on a dry side. Luckily I had some extra cuttings in a pots and now they are happily growing in another location.

George, Albury Purple is definitely not a heavy seeder. I just extricated a single seedling from a granite block pathway and potted it up because my largest and oldest plant appears to have died over the winter and I want to replace it. My only complaint with it at all is it does appear to be short lived and/or unreliable.

Don't get me started on all the Sedum Purple Emperor I've killed-even in dry sites. It dies from some sort of stem rot. Hopefully some of the newer purple sedums hitting the market will turn out to be an improvement over that one.

Sue

I haven't had any seeding around of the Hypericum Albury Purple in two years. They must like your site, George!

Not a shrub, but maybe Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' or one of the Heucheras?
Jo

Also not a shrub, but I love it - Japanese blood grass. It stays deep red for us from April - December.

deannagv, is it hardy for you?

George, the bloodgrass has survived since summer '03 in my new gardens. Slow to expand but a perfect little accent at the base of our French antique wooden garden cart. With the mild winter, I'm hoping it will run a little this year since I planted it to fill in the area around the cart. Our is about 6" or so tall now and has been out of the ground for about 2 weeks. It's been cool and cloudy so I don't expect it to take off until temps get a bit warmer.

'Red Baron' is supposedly hardier and less invasive than 'Rubra'. It is hardy here.

There's a dwarf euphorbia that has red leaves and stays quite small in my garden. Or you could use a perennial like anthriscus sylvestris "ravenswing".

I couldn't be more pleased with my Hypericum 'Albury Purple' which here in Seattle is evergreen and a performer 12 months a year. Not certain of the longevity, mine is 3 years old & thriving. No seedlings as yet. It's a lovely counterpoint with all of the chartruese things. My barberry 'Aurea' are underplanted with sedum 'Dragons Blood' which are in-planted with lilac colchicum so that in the early autumn that part of the bed is quite lively. Also nice with the barberry 'Aurea' is the dahlia
'Bishop of Llandorf' with it's burgundy foliage & simple red flowers. And a good background for any of the chartruese plants is Sambucus nigra, 'Black Beauty' with blackish red leaves & bright pink blossoms. In this zone it's an agressive grower & can be pruned to suit your needs, plus there's a wonderful Tuscan bread that is made with the flowers.