Hostas(June is our favorite), Hakone grass, any Miscanthus grass, Rudbeckia 'Goldstrum', Sedum 'autumn joy', 'Stella d' Oro' daylily, plumbago...and the list goes on. I just downsized to a new house with a smaller yard, so that is what I started with. I also put in a cutleaf Jap. maple, a fragrant viburnum standard, some knockout roses and more, it was year one and hubby put me on a budget...a silly thing to do with me, but I think that I only tripled what he told me I could spend, since he gave me the same yearly budget at our old house in Ontario which was 25 years old and had a great landscape.
I am going to try to stay under control this year with the economy being as it is. I think that hubbys company will keep him since they just paid a fortune to transfer us, but we can't ever be too sure.