Do I have to pick just one? :)

Here are some of my favorites:

Beauty Bush - http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/beautybush.html

Chinese Snowball - http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/chinesesnowball.htm

Kerria - http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/kerria.html

Fountain Butterfly Bush - http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/sgbuddleiaalternifolia.htm

Virginia Sweetspire - http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/virginiasweetspire.htm

Fothergilla - http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/fothergilla.htm

Hydrangea - http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/hydrangeas.htm

biscuit, just as a friendly suggestion... you ought to change your member title so that your climate zone appears at the top of all of your posts. Most people do that, I think, and it's VERY helpful for those of us who want to ponder and comment on your good questions.

Alabama is a VERY long, tall state and encompasses several climate zones.

It might be helpful, for this question, if we knew of a size limitation. Some shrubs take very well to heavy pruning, for example, while others end up looking butchered. My favorite shrub is almost anything that isn't carved into a wierd ball or a cube. ;-)

Rhizo, thanks for the suggestion. I'm really new to this so I had to look which zone I am in. Im in Birmingham, so I guess that is 7b. By the way, I like the natural look a lot more than things that are shaped into balls and squares. I have a neighbor that shapes all of their azaleas and it looks terrible. Thanks for any suggestions.

judging by what's in my landscape, i have more camellias, hydrangeas and japanese maple culitvars than any other woody plants. hostas would be at the top of my list for perennials.
you can grow all of these in your area and they will appreciate afternoon shade in our hot climate. i am in the auburn area, not too far south of you.
for fragrance, you should consider burkwood's viburnum, osmanthus fragrans (tea olive), and michelia figo (banana shrub). would these last two be hardy in the birmingham area, local gardeners?

Yes, I have been growing O. fragrans and Michelia figo for several years, and I am about 25 miles North of Birmingham. My M. figo is about 10 feet tall and is starting to bloom now! :) Both of these plants could be subject to damage in the worst Winter freezes.. you know, the kind we haven't had in ten or eleven years! Yikes!

Don't forget Gardenias!

I'm in 7b near Bham as well.

My favorites are pretty traditional (dare I say boring and overdone?), but here they are:
Gardenia
Camellia
Azalea
Japanese Maple
Nikko Blue Hydrangea
Oakleaf Hydrangea
Burgandy Loropetalum
Viburnum (snowball bush)
Butterfly bush

Forsythia is gorgeous when in bloom (those bright yellow bushes you see blooming everywhere right now) but too boring for me the rest of the year. I like my shrubs to bloom or flower or smell good or SOMETHING other than just being green most of the year.

I have recently been contemplating a lilac, but not sure how well it will do in our heat? Maybe someone can help me out with that question?

Hope that helps.

Confederate rose
Crape myrtle
Euonymus "Silver King"
Susan

I planted a banana shrub last year and it survived its first winter here in extreme NW Alabama.

I also love the tea olive and camellias.

Here I am, still wanting to find out EXACTLY what you are looking for before suggesting anything, lol. Are these shrubs for specimen purposes (stand along as an ornamental feature), for a border (along the side of your property for definition or privacy), or as a foundation plant (along the base of your house/garage) ?

Understanding your plant needs will help us to suggest some good plants that won't have to be whacked back a couple of times a year (or more). ;-)

My number one pick is roses- there are many antique and modern types that are very disease resistant. (and not just knockouts!)

Hydrangeas for sure, mophead and oakleaf and arborescens (Annabelle)

Native azaleas (they smell so good!)

These all have very natural shapes. Hope this helps!
Joy

By the way, these are not a shrub, but I've had HUGE success in filling up empty spaces in my garden with elephant ears. Last year they got to about 6 feet tall and I could easily hide behind the leaves. (and I'm not an itty bitty person)

Here are a pic of mine their first year out of the gate:
{{gwi:359826}}

They got incredible big until Hurricane Katrina came along, and then they looked like this: {{gwi:359827}}

But no worries, they came back bigger and better the next year.

I divided my clumps this year and gave away uncounted numbers of bulbs where they had multiplied. They love Alabama weather.

Rhizo, all of the above. I know that sounds funny, but boy, is it the truth. My wife and I bought a house in dire need some work. When we bought the house, the entire backyard was covered in privet (and this is no small backyard). We need foundation plants in the beds around the house. These beds have areas of full shade, full sun, partial shade, and partial sun. We need plants to go in front of a chainlink fence on both sides of the backyard. The right side of the backyard along the fence is in full shade. The left side is in partial sun. We have a raised, leveled bed in the back that gets direct afternoon sun. Both foundation and ornamental stand alone plants would be good for this bed. We also have a sloped (down towards the house) natural woodland area in the back that needs some of everything. this natural area is shaded by pine trees on one side and gets partial shade (during spring and summer) from dogwoods on the other side. Basically, we have a blank slate in need of everything. That's why I asked the question as broadly as I did. I think I could take almost any recommended plant and work it into the landscape one way or another. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Also, thanks to those that have given suggestions thus far. This will be a great help to us.

Phillip, your garden looks INCREDIBLE. I remember browsing your site a few years ago, and now it is even more amazing. Why don't you come down here and re-plant mine! Haha.