There are some lovely shrubs in the philadelphus and deutzia families - especially the small leaved philadelphus p.microphylla 'Silver Showers (or Fountain)' and the dainty D.nikko.

Rose of Sharon has the same drawback as lilacs: one season (month) of interest. They don't break dormancy for at least a month later than many shrubs and remain ugly sticks for a long Time

how much room is there in sq feet?

We already grow Philadelphus Minnesota Snowflake on the other side of the house - it's finishing blooming right now. Love it, but want something different.

I checked D. Nikko and it seems a bit short for where I want the replacement shrub. Nikko is described by some people as a ground cover type of shrub, since theirs didn't get more than a foot and a half tall. I do like the bronze fall color though. How about D. Chardonnay Pearls instead, as an option?

About 9 Sq Feet is what I have to work with.

It would be nice to have form, texture and color, which is possible if you choose carefully. Nothing that would require too much or too frequent pruning, no prickles or woody branches that would break if you stepped on them.

Would there be room for chardonney pearls with one of the new small statured ninebarks? I wonder if they really stay small? Add a groundcover or low perennalsnand it might get interesting

Do you have a photo of the area?

How about tossing a dwarf Conifer into the mix? Just a thought!

You are so right, mrtulin. Nothing that would require too much or too frequent pruning. We did some pruning on the lilac a couple of times and it just grows back.

There lots of other perennials in the area, though the lilac is trying to crowd them out. This plant was about one third or less the size that it is now when we moved in. So, I planted around it. There are three gorgeous, LARGE hostas on the side and the back of it - a HUGE Blue Angel, a Blue Shadows, and another green and blue variegated No Id one. There are some variegated Liriope in front of it, but they are covered by the lilac now and once the lilac leafs out, you have a hard time seeing them. Off to the left side of the No Id hosta is a large, mixed perennial bed. The house and air conditioner unit is off to the left. Around the air conditioner is a very happy hardy geranium Jolly Bee, that grows and blooms constantly, making a wonderful ground cover that blooms until frost.

How small are the small statured Ninebarks?

catkin, a dwarf Conifer might work. I always think "Flowering" though, when I want to change a bush. Any special conifer that you have in mind?

I have ninebark 'Little Devil' and I think it really wants to get to be 4-5 feet. I prune mine down each year to about 2 1/2 - 3'. Nice little shrub so far. I've had it in for about 3-4 years now and don't have anything negative to say about it. I find the color of ninebark and nepeta work really well together. Maybe with a 'Chardonnay Pearls' mixed in.........

I haven't grown a small ninebark. I would ask on the shrub forum who's grown them (one is "little devil) for more than a year, how it keeps it shape, oh....esp. mildew resistance. That has become an issue with ninebarks. Don't want a mildewed plant in front yard.

Another thought: one of the colored twig variegated dogwoods. Tough. Pretty when in foliage. You can cut it back far and it will regrow quickly. Maybe a bit more pruning than none,. Look them up: there are scores and some remain a shrub and others sucker a lot. I think Artic Fire is recommended.

I have about 8 chamycypress (which I can never spelll) It would be a lovely conifer, never met one I didn't like. There are scores of variations in size shape form color. Youd want a very slow growing one with a tight form. Go to the conifer forum for many expert opinions and recommendation.

You must get snow. What about salt spray? Will snow be plowed or thrown on the location or is there salt spray. As you know, some plants are easily injured by salt.

Marie

I picked up a hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee' last year, and I'm really excited about it. I don't have a spot for a full-sized oakleaf hydrangea, but Pee Wee is just the right size. Great flower, great fall foliage--I love it!

There are so many--maybe look around gardens in your area to see what's doing well that appeals to you? There are many different mature sizes, colors, shapes, textures and growth habits to choose from!

'Pee Wee' has stayed a nice compact size for me so far, about 4 x 3 (wider than tall). It always gets leaf spot though, no matter how careful I water. I use a lot of dwarf (native) plants in my yard. 'Little Henry' sweetspire has been lovely this year. I think the drooping flowers are so cool. Super hardy, will take anything and doesn't need pruning. I also have the 'Arctic Fire' dogwood mentioned above... I can't say I'm overly fond of it. It's nice and compact but rather drab except for the red stems in winter. Most of the natives aren't very showy, but provide neat colored foliage in the fall.

You've all given me lots to think about. Thank you!

No salt spray. We sit pretty far off the side street and not near the main road. This area is not near the front walk, either. And we don't use salt on the brick walk anyway. So salt is not a problem.

Am going to check on the Ninebarks, the Pee Wee hydrangea and small conifers.

If Artic Fire doesn't have variagated leaves then I meant another one. The variegated leaf varieties are good looking all year.

I am not sure how cold your part of zone 5 gets, but here's my experience with a few of the shrubs listed above in the cold end of zone 5. (We have hit between -17 and -22 at least once each of the past several winters, but have good snow cover after some snowless below 0 weather in December most years.)

I have both Deutzias mentioned. They bloom for about as long as the lilacs, and then are green or chartreuse blobs the rest of the growing season. Both get at least a bit of tip die-back most winters and so need a bit of tidying up type of pruning in spring. Neither has any noticeable fall color in my garden.

Itea 'Little Henry' wasn't hardy enough for my garden and got progressively smaller each spring for several years until I finally put it out of its misery. It had lots of dieback, even with good snow cover for most of the winter.

My Physocarpus 'Tiny Wine' is rock hardy and hasn't had any issues with mildew in my garden. It's still much smaller than T2D's, but I liked hers enough to go looking for one of my own.

I haven't dared to try oak leaf hydrangeas, but I have a feeling that unless I found a selection with known tolerance of colder temperatures, they wouldn't do too well here since we are on the northern edge of their hardiness. To my knowledge some of the named ones are from more southerly origins, but I don't know about Pee Wee. Your garden may be warmer, though.

A couple of other possibilities would include some of the smaller Hydrangea paniculatas such as 'Little Quickfire' (my regular 'Quickfire' blooms fully from early June until hard freeze, with the blossoms shifting from white to red-pink), as well as 'Little Lime', 'Little Lamb', and 'Bobo'. H. paniculatas are fine in full sun and are very hardy.

There are a few small statured Weigelas such as 'Minuet', 'Dark Horse', 'My Monet'. I haven't grown any of the dwarf ones, but perhaps others can weigh in on how they do.

There are also a slew of petite Spireas, including ones with some pretty colored foliage.

Caryopteris 'Sunshine Blue' has done fairly well in my garden, though it has had a bit of dieback. It has bright gold foliage all season and late summer blue flowers and has been hardier than many of the other Caryopteris varieties I have tried.

I have a lime green spirea that gets only two feet tall, shorter if I prune it hard in early spring. It is hardy, no diseases and doesn't look like a twiggy haystack after a couple of years. I gave up on the larger spireas because it took an hour of discriminating pruning every spring. I have better things to do.

Marie

Do you know the name of your lime green spirea, Marie? When it blooms, what color are the flowers?

I had two different ones and after a few years, dug both of them out. Both got much larger than the tag said they would and like you, I didn't want to spend a lot of time pruning to keep them in check. Too much trouble!

One of the nice things about the spireas is that you don't have to spend much time pruning them. You can whack them off to 6" in early spring and they will regrow and fill in within a few weeks. Mine grow where snow and ice dump off the roof and so often need this treatment and it causes no issues. I was hesitant to try it the first time, but it really does work.