Ajuga reptans

This is a mat-forming plant, offering wonderful dense ground cover with nice color. The dark green leaves with highlights of purple to bronze form a nice background to the blue/purple spike flowers, which bloom in spring. From the same family as the wild bugle, this plant is very versatile and is suitable for ground cover in the shade beneath trees or shrubs, as well as being part of a flower border fully exposed to the sun.

Ajuga reptans groundcover

Ornamental Grass

I use all types and varieties of ornamental grass in my projects, but am particularly fond of Little Bunny, a wonderful plant. 
This is a small grass growing to around a foot tall with a spread of between one and two feet. The light, airy flower plumes appear between August and October and are whitish green in color. This grass variety requires very little maintenance, has few, if any, pest issues and is highly adaptable, being used in rock gardens, borders and a wide variety of other landscape features.  

Ornamental grass in front of custom stone bench

Pieris japonica

I like this plant for its shape, but also for its growth habit. The Pieris japonica is always interesting at a number of different times between fall and summer. The flower buds develop in late fall, covering much of the plant until early spring, when the bell shaped flowers bloom, open hanging down. The beautiful cascading flowers, which can be white, pink or red, are followed by an explosive growth of colorful new red foliage, then as the new evergreen leaves mature, they turn a bright dark green. The pieris japonica can grow as high as ten feet, unless it is pruned regularly.

Pieris japonica