Shrub recommendations please

I would like to plant 2 shrubs in an East facing small front garden, fairly slow growing, flowering at some point. I like viburnum, but there are many species and don't want a tree. Was wondering about Escallonia of some sort? Ceanothus? It gets maybe 5 hours of direct sunlight then dappled for the rest of the day.

 

Certainly I'm a fan of Ceanothus and very much like Viburnum Mariesii. The latter doesn't grow very tall for some time but it does grow outwards. The 1 in the photo is about 5 years old and has a span of about 5ft so might be too big. There are dozens of different Ceanothus at varying sizes. Some I have I've pruned the main growing point when quite young which makes them much bushier. They aren't that keen about being heavily pruned tho after that. You could maybe consider a shrub which responds well to pruning ie Spirea Bridle Wreath which would solve the problem of size or maybe consider Spirea Gold Flame. It doesn't grow big, hasn't the most exciting flowers but has very attractive vivid yellow leaves which keep their colour well even in full sun...well with me they do. I don't know what PH your soil is but you could also consider any of the acid loving plants like, Rhododendrons, Azaleas etc but not Camellias as east facing. Photo of the Viburnum won't upload says too large? I'll do another post with not so much chat in it and see if that works. Sure others will come up with good ideas for you. Tried again, photo won't upload but sure you can mind images of the Viburnum on the net.

 

How about Hebes? They have lots of flowers, some are quite compact so wouldn't get too tall and some would suit an east facing garden. Some are evergreen too. "Caledonia" is a nice one.

 

Have you thought of a hardy Fuchsia ?
You can control the height/spread of these a lot easier than most shrubs as if they get too big you can just cut them back to ground level in early spring.

And, you don't have to leave the Space bare in spring either, I underplant in layers with early Crocus and Dwarf Iris, then Muscari and Bluebells. You could always use Forget me nots and Wallflowers as well.

All these add extra frost protection to the Fuchsia as well, as they're planted over and above it.