There are so many choices...what do you want? What obstacles will the plant have to deal with? Sounds like you could plant anything. Blue Princess Holly, perhaps? Diablo Ninebark?

How much more sun do you think you will get without the tree? What about some easy roses? There are so many varieties available that flower all season long on and off and don't get black spot, etc. and would fit your size requirements.

Thanks for these ideas so far!

edlincoln, I'm looking for something not much more than 3' tall, so that's part of my dilemma. It doesn't have to be evergreen, but should provide nice foliage spring through fall. Flowers are optional. A color other than medium green (blue, purple, chartreuse, or deep green) would be a bonus.

gardenweed, I do have some hellebores that have been reproducing and the babies could easily be moved. I would like something more structural in addition, but hellebores could be a nice addition.

thyme2dig, it's a little hard to say, but I think we'll get maybe 4 hours of bright sun and a few more hours of filtered sun. I've been underwhelmed by the roses I have nearby--they always look a little scraggly--but I'd consider the right variety. Do you have a favorite type?

Diablo Ninebark have red leaves. Ninebark grow bigger then that but can be trimmed or just cut down to the ground in winter. Good in shade.

Holly can be trimmed, but would grow bigger if left to it's own devises. Foliage is usually deep green, but the "blue" meserve hollies look bluish to some. (Not me, though). English variegated holly has "two tone" leaves but is less cold tolerant and much bigger. Good in light shade.

Baptista Australis has really interesting pea-like leaves, but not sure how shade tolerant they are. Die back to the ground in winter.

Not usually shade tolerant, but you could get a blueish spreading yew or juniper?
Juniperus conferta âÂÂBlue Pacificâ BLUE PACIFIC SHORE JUNIPER

or

Juniperus horizontalis âÂÂHughesâ HUGHES JUNIPER

Can you post a photo of the area? That often helps me with ideas.

If you can find a low-growing rhododendron, that would give you evergreen, structure, low maintenance, and flowers. I have a Rhododendron 'Checkmate' that stays at around 3 feet without pruning. It's a small-sized member of the PJM group (Weston Nursery), so it looks like them with sort of mahogany winter foliage and magneta spring flowers. It gets perhaps 3 or 4 hours of sun and bright shade the rest of the day, and stays tidy and dense without any effort on my part. There are also smaller Rhodies such as 'Purple Gem' or some of the series that include 'Yaku Prince', 'Yaku Princess' or 'Ken Janik' which all grow slowly enough to keep in check without much effort. You can use the search engine I'm giving you a link to below to look for others in your size range.

There are other Heath family evergreens (all acid loving like the Rhodies) that stay low such as some of the dwarf forms of mountain laurel, Kalmia latafolia, such as 'Elf' or 'Minuet'. Leucathoe is another that is native and mine haven't exceeded 3' in over 20 years. Some forms have variegated leaves. There are a few forms of andromeda, Pieris japonica, that stay below 4', and there may be some smaller, though since I can't grow these I can't give you much information.

It might be a bit shady for best color with a ninebark, and I definitely wouldn't want a full-sized one there, but Physocarpus opulifolius 'Little Devil' is supposed to stay in the 3-4' range. Mine is too young to know if it really will, but perhaps T2D will add her 2 cents since she has some that are older.

Microbiota decussata (Siberian Cypress) looks a bit like an arborvitae but is much shorter (1'-2') and completely shade tolerant.

Some perennials that might look nice with the shrubs include
sedges/Carex - many are variegated or have colored foliage
Hakonechloa macra (Japanese forest grass, hakone grass) - variegated or gold, clumping, looks nice (tan) for at least part of the winter
Epimedium - flowers and can be clumpers or spreaders
Astilbe - flowers in the white/pink/red range and ferny foliage
Pulmonaria - flowers in the pink/blue/white range and spotted to almost entirely silver foliage (check out 'Majeste' or 'Samurai')
Heuchera - evergreen, many different foliage colors and many have nice flowers that the hummingbirds enjoy
Also look at other hosta - smaller, variegated leaves, longer blooming.

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

In ref to roses, I like the Fairy rose which stays a good size. Even without any deadheading it blooms well into November.

I do like NHBabs idea of the smaller rhodies because you'd get great fall color from those and they're evergreen.

I think the microbiota in Idabean's garden took over a drastic amount of space where it was happy. I'm sorry mine dropped dead after seeing the great space they can cover.

My 'Little Devil' got to about 4 1/2 feet this year. I whacked it back and will be curious to see if I can keep this one whipped into shape! I do enjoy it with the smaller leaves and dark color. It's in a decent amount of shade and retains the dark color.

A perennial that has been doing exceptionally well and long blooming is the fall anemones. Might be nice to put one of them in there for the bees later in the season. My robustissima wants to take over the world, but I have an 'Honorine Jobert' and she is very well behaved and most beautiful.

You can fit quite a lot into a 7' long bed and small shrubs mixed with perennials and bulbs would look great with lots of interest.

Thank you NHBabs and Thyme2dig for your many excellent suggestions! I sincerely appreciate it.

I don't have a great photo of that bed, but here is an old photo of the whole house (taken two Augusts ago). The hostas in question are on the left just below the ES hydrangeas. You can see how they're on a slope; there are steps to the left of them.

If you have suggestions for the bed on the right, I would love to have them as well!! That's an Annabelle hydrangea and a small holly that we transplanted when a tree was taken out, and plopped it there without much thought.

The bed in the middle, to the right of the ES hydrangea, now has three weigela 'my monet' in front, which provides a nice color contrast. I just added some sedum and geranium biokovo. The other things are an ilex 'steeds' (which needed to be pruned int his pic) and some pink laurels. I've been really struggling with the front, though. The house is up high on a retaining wall so the beds are basically at eye level, and it throws my whole design sense off.

To the right, out of frame, is a large linden tree that provides some dappled morning shade. You can see the dead branches of the old maple hanging down at the top of the photo! Just waiting and waiting for the city to take it down.