Dianthus is a small evergreen. Valley Valentine Pieris, another evergreen that gets about 5-6' I think, but is a slow grower. How about Heucheras? Broom can be invasive but that gets tall and is evergreen, blooms early spring. If you prune it as soon as it is done blooming, no seeds will fall to invade. Liriope (lilyturf)..Christmas Fern..
I'm the same as you..dig it and plant as I go..dig some more to make room for what I just bought, lol. I try to plan it out, but it never ever works out.
I just started getting evergreens this last summer myself. It did get too boring looking in the winter, just too brown and dead. The ones I mentioned are what I bought myself. They are doing well. But it still looks crappy cuz I don't have anything big yet, everything is still new and small. Hey you could do tall ornamental grasses too. Alot of them would be evergreen in your zone. I have pampas grass, has stayed semi-green for me so far this winter. Half of it is white though. Not supposed to be evergreen here. This was it's first year so it didnt bloom, if it had I'd send ya some seeds..sorry.
O how bout Azaleas and Rhododendrons?

Too hot here for azaleas and Rhodos. I miss those too. I am more worried about getting the beds layed out and some ideas of how other peoples look. Once I figure out the lay out then I can check on some evergreens for this area. I want some of those purple leaf wiegelia (SP?). The pampass grass gets huge here. I like heuchera but have to see if they grow here. I want a large bed in the front and thats what he is freaking out about looking bad in the winter cause I want flowers out there. I don't care if they look bad in the winter or not. They will be lovely the rest of the year, lol. If it was up to him everything would be in containers so he can hide them away when he wants. Thats how I ended up with a garage full of plants that could have stayed out in a bed. Well a lot of them anyway, lol. Anybody have a pot garden? Lol. (Container I should say, lol)

Kristy, Take a look at this link.This garden is gorgeous. She moves the plants around for a different look or fills in other spots. Isn't that CG gorgeous?
Theresa

Here is a link that might be useful: Container gardening/Gorgeous CG

Kristy

Theresa has a good suggestion- I do the same with many of my many beds- have lots of plants in pots, and I can move them at any time. My purpose is to find their perfect spot but the potted plants work great for developing your over-all design, move til ya got it! And you still need your foundation plantings as backdrop and to complement the whole over-all effect!

Wow, another bed- have fun!!!

B

Thanks. That looks just like the side of my house, lol. I have a bed there filled with gravel with wood over the top that I tried to get hubby to clean out so I could plant it and instead he put a bunch of stuff in pots on top of it. It was supposed to be temporary but ended up looking pretty nice so I left it, lol. I put an upside down plastic bin in the back with pots on top of it to give it some elevation. You couldn't see it through the foliage of the lower plants so it worked out great. I found a metal frame yesterday that looks like it was supposed to be stairs like for a mobile home that was missing the wooden treads. We have some steel grating at the shop so I told hubby to cut it to fit and I will sand and paint the whole thing and make a 3 tier plant stand from it. Then I can put larger plants on the sides to maximize my space right against the back of the house that all the plants seem to like so much. The house casts some late afternoon shade there. I would still like some shots like that of other peoples flower beds. I know you all have some great ones. I am just terrible at design. It all ends up looking good to me the way I do it. I just can't imagine what things look like in the beginning. I am paying for that with a small bed I made that I planted a lavender colored sage of some sort in. That thing got huge and took over the whole bed. I have to move it now. It was really pretty before it got so big though and it leans over and covers up the other plants or it wouldn't be so bad. My husband kept saying everythings too short in there and I tried to tell him it would all grow up but he wanted something tall and boy did he get it, lol.