Planting zone? Shade or sun?

You could consider a dwarf pieris like 'Cavatine' or 'Prelude', an evergreen azalea(s) or one of the dwarf kalmias like 'Elf' or 'Minuet'. Viburnum davidii is another possibility but may need pruning down the road.

However, I would not necessarily dismiss the rhody. 'Mardi Gras' is quite compact and with great foliage. And never large enough to produce the number of flowers that would make deadheading more than a quickly completed annual chore. And there is always the option of not deadheading......the rhodies won't care either way 😉

How tall would the rhodi mature to?

I can understand that kind of childhood garden trauma. I would never dream of dead heading a rhododendron though. That would be like picking cotton. Your garden, No rhodies. Case closed. There are lots of other choices where you live.

I pondered alternate flowering shrubs and ran into dead heading issues. Instead of swapping out shrubs, consider bold foliage plants as replacements if they might work in this bed. Some large foliage plants to look at are Darmera, Rodgersia, Aralia, Syneilesis and Fatshedera

Ditch the 'Little Moses' Burning Bush with the rhododendrons.

One Fatshedera or Fatsia would make a terrific accent where you want the height, then repeat the japanese forest grass. Dwarf pieris as mentioned for spring fragrance and seasonal interest is nice too.

'Mardi Gras' will get 3', maybe 4' tall after an extended time and 4' wide.

Just an aside but perennials will need deadheading as well.....unless one likes looking at dead flower stalks indefinitely. Since all of the plants originally spec'd for this area are low, I would assume there maybe window behind them that shouldn't be obscured. Fatsia gets enormous here, fatshedera is not much smaller and both are likely much too large a choice for this location.

Although I am not a fan of the Euonymus either, burning bush is not invasive in this area.

Wow! Thanks for the quick response. There are some great ideas in here. Well, there are some great sounding plants in here. I'm pretty much a novice on this stuff, but I look forward to checking out the suggestions tonight!

@jewelisfabulous - My planting zone is 8B - 9A. According to google. And this flower bed is a north-facing bed that gets mostly shade as the house soaks up all the sun.

And @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), you're exactly right - this flower bed is up against the windows. The windows are floor to ceiling windows and unfortunately, the way we have things configured, there's a couch up against it so anything that grows up to 5 -6 feet would be okay but that would be the max I would think.

You all are awesome. Thanks again!

Just wanted to follow-up and let you guys know that we've decided to go with the Elf Dwarf Kalmia. My wife thought they were the prettiest :)

Thanks again everyone!

Just so you know, there is no law or act of horticulture that requires you to dead head the Kalmia.

"Just so you know, there is no law or act of horticulture that requires you to dead head the Kalmia."

Nor is there one that requires a similar approach with rhododendrons :-) Or any other flowering shrub.