Suggest me a shrubbery!

One that looks nice. And not too expensive.

I have an empty spot in the border beside my house where a rhododendron bush used to be, and I'd like to fill it with something. But given that the rhododendron died--I think it got too dry and hot over there after the big tree in the verge fell over in a storm and was removed some years back--and the one at the other end of the border is dying, I don't think replacing it with a rhododendron is a good idea. I might also consider evicting the other rhododendron in favor of something more likely to thrive.

The space is maybe twenty square feet (5x4 or so), east facing and not shaded except by more shrubberies to the north and south, and reasonably well drained. Height-wise it could grow to about fifteen feet before it blocks a window, though any new plant at the other end needs to be shorter--maybe max eight feet. I live in the city of St. Louis. Climate references for the area probably list a bit more rainfall than we actually get, since storms have a habit of tracking the rivers and often miss us completely while they soak the rest of the metro area.

Remaining plants in the vicinity are (north to south) a white dogwood surrounded by a magenta azalea, [insert shrubbery here], three big burning bushes, a none-too-healthy pink rhododendron, and a thriving thirty-foot holly tree. There are some ivy and hostas surrounding the base of the holly tree.

This is the sort of thing my team get up to...

In something of a coincidence, since there was a conversation about cows at dinner last night, too...And no, I did not bring up the topic. I can't remember who did. But anyway, at the daily meeting, somehow the subject of Cow Tipping comes up.

Terry: "Hey, you're from Wisconsin, did you ever tip cows?"

Someone: "Is it even really possible?"

Me: "Cow weighs nearly a ton, you'd need some damn good leverage." [my weight estimate is doubtless wildly inaccurate]

Amanda: "I think it's probably like hunting snipes."

So Matt goes off and comes back with this in an email:

from Wikipedia

According to popular belief, cows can easily be pushed over without much force because they are slow-moving, slow-witted and weak-legged, have a high center of gravity and sleep standing up. Numerous publications have debunked cow-tipping as a myth. Cows do not sleep standing up, nor do their knees lock, making the act of cow-tipping impossible.[2]

A variety of calculations have been performed to determine if cow tipping is physically possible.[1][3] A study led by Margo Lillie, a doctor of zoology at the University of British Columbia, concludes that cow tipping by a single person is impossible. Her calculations found that it would take at least two people to apply enough force to push over a cow if the cow does not react and reorient its footing. If the cow does react, it would take at least four people to push it over. Professor Lillie noted that, contrary to the myth, cows are well aware of their surroundings (they have excellent senses of smell and hearing) and are very difficult to sneak up upon.[1][4][5][6]

Just thought all y'all would want to know that.