Help me design a sunny 6' X 8' garden, please

[Mamadirt]

I decided to redo part of one of my gardens cuz I couldn't get rid of bouncing bet. She's gone now! I'm still digging up rocks and roots and fighting the clay. I plan on amending the soil when I've had enough of that! Anyway, as you can see in the picture, this spot is in the middle of an existing garden and in front of a window. The surrounding plants are coreopsis, peonies, shastas, grasses, daylilies etc. The 2 flowers on either side of the window are 6' yellow things (forgot what!) I have no idea what to plant! This spot gets sun all day until 6 pm. The plants can't be too high because they are in front of the window. And we have deer that eat everything! I'd like mostly perennials and maybe some annuals for instant color. I'm a little afraid of perennials as I have a tendency to plant things that take over. Other flowers there are white, blue, yellow and deep pink. Can you give me some suggestions pretty please?
[img]https://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac59/mrsvedit/Debbies%20Garden/Gardens-June-2010002.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac59/mrsvedit/Debbies%20Garden/Gardens-June-2010001.jpg[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

You can put just a bunch of perennials in there, perhaps make a butterfly garden with black eyed susan, butterfly weed, bee balm, salvia, sedum, liatris, anise hyssop, etc.

But to my eyes, unless you are really good at design, that cottage garden kind of thing can look a bit weedy. That is your prime position for viewing from the street and from the house. I think it will make a lot more of a statement if you anchor it with a small shrub, then just plant a little bit of low growing things around the shrub. The "shrub" could even be a dwarf japanese maple tree. Depending on variety, they might get a little bigger than you were thinking, but they are very delicate trees with a "see through effect."

Some low growing shrubs that are "supposedly" deer resistant (that may or may not mean anything, depending on how hungry your deer are!) include:

button bush, red twig dogwood, barberry, spruce, juniper, forsythia, coralberry, dwarf lilac, russian sage, spirea, dwarf weigela, dwarf viburnum

Look them up and read about them and look for pictures if you aren't familiar with them. Remember, if you get ready to buy something, you have to be very careful with varieties. There are dwarf viburnum that would be just the right size for what you want and then then there are viburnums three times that big! (Viburnum is a nice native shrub, with fragrant spring flowers and berries that birds like)

[Mamadirt]

Thanks for the quick reply. This forum gets a lot more action than another I tried!
I know a cottage garden can look messy. I lean in that direction, but I'm trying to go for a more controlled planting of well behaved perennials. Unfortunately, bee balm and black-eyed susans don't fall in that category. I already have one bed that has been taken over by bee balm and am trying to figure out what I can plant to blossom before the bee balm and survive in the competition. I've never planted anise hyssop. That one looks good. And the others are possible, too. I was thinking of having something in the middle that was about 3' tall and then having 2 more levels of plants in a circular pattern around that.