The vase shape is a difficult one! I don't think i can think of any truly vase-shaped suggestions.

What about a white-flowering hydrangea, that has quite an open form. Maybe Annabelle?

Oh, Clethra may be another. Sixteen candles has white flowers and gets 3-4' tall and is more upright than rounded.

Fothergilla and Itea virginica are both beautiful and have a nice open shape (not really vase like, but not a tight round ball either) that might look good against hollies, but I'm not certain of shade tolerance, i think they do OK in shade but would check that.

White azaleas/gardenias would be too rounded i guess?

The other thing might be to plant some perennials to fill in -- maybe shasta daisies or rudbeckia, these would have a loose upright form and you could move them once the hollies get bigger.

I planted loads of shrubs in Jan-March last year and they have all done fine (i found them on sale racks and couldnt resist!)

Yeah, I guess "vase-shaped" was a little misleading. I meant more free form and not rounded. Wrong choice of words.

Fothergilla is a good idea...hadn't thought of that and I've always thought it was so fun-looking...and the itea is a good idea too. I think azaleas might be too rounded...I'm actually going to use some dwarf gardenia a little further down in the area, but I don't want to use anything larger than that. Hubby has asthma and gardenia really bothers him.

Thanks for the suggestions! :)

Well, you say "shade tolerant", so I think that means Fothergilla is not a good choice. It really likes 6 or more hours of sun. Itea would like more sun, but might do ok. You might want the 'Little Henry' form. Oakleaf hydrangea 'Pee Wee' or 'Little Honey' might be nice.

Perhaps a dwarf mountain laurel would be good. I have 'Elf' and it has stayed at 2 feet! Pieris is shade tolerant, but might be too tall.

Consider also Agarista populifolia 'Leprechaun'.

There are shade tolerant perennials that could fill the space - Black Cohosh gets big enough to resemble a shrub! You can also do ferns - Thelypteris kunthii gets pretty big as well. Having these herbaceous perennials die back to the ground in the winter would not be much different than the effect of a shrub without leaves? A different approach to consider there.

oops, i realise i had forgotten about the shadiness by the time i got to suggesting the perennials! cancel the shasta/rudbeckia idea then :)

thanks for the fothergilla info, Esh, thats a shame, i would love to have one in a shadier area in my garden.

Well, you know it depends on how many blooms you want, that's all. The plant itself will leaf out and grow pretty well in part sun/part shade. But fewer hours of sun will bring fewer blooms. The foliage itself is very handsome, I think.

In part shade, you can get a similar look from the native Hydrangea arborescens. It blooms later in the year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea arborescens

Ferns could be the answer. They definitely have that open-airy shape I'm looking for, and I could pretty much plant 'em and forget 'em. I have to make a confession here though: I just don't like hydrangeas...I know I'm in the tiny minority on that, but I just don't. And, it's too bad really because they do so well here. I get the catalog from Wilkerson Mill Gardens and I think, "Why don't I like hydrangeas?" Silly me...