Wow, there's any number of things you plant there. What do you like? What colors do you like. Do you like daisy type flowers? Bell shaped flowers? Spiky flowers? Do you want flowers there at all or herbs? a ground cover? a small shrub? Hmmm, I think I might be doing more harm than good!

Daylilies, Irises, Asiatic Lilies Echinacea, Daisies, Rudbeckia, Peony - these are all things that do well in Zone 5 (from personal experience). So they should do well in zone 6. Azaleas or small roses might do well in the spot too.

Well, my wife can't stand Yellow flowers....so I am trying not to plant anymore of those. I saw some flowers called Balloon Flowers? at Meijer yesterday. Maybe Coneflower?
I feel like I need something in both the back right/left corners that would be bigger, and then stuff along the back side.

Correl Bells in the left/right corner maybe?

smaller variety butterfly bush maybe?
I want something kind of taller for those back left/right corners....something that will define the ends of the garden.
But I don't want overbearing tall...just something maybe slightly higher than where the porch comes to. Thanks.

For me I would not want to be looking at cinder blocks all winter, so the first thing I would do is plant some dwarf conifers or other low growing evergreen shrubs.
Then I would face those with my colorful perennials.

You don't show a full pulled out shot so we can see the context of the area, but I feel certain that you have room for a deeper bed and so more layers of plants.
And FWIW you are dreaming if you think weedcloth is going to work for any length of time- I would get in there and pull the weeds before I did another thing. Then plant thickly, mulch heavily, and pull the odd weed the moment you notice it.

Well, I realize that no matter what I do, I will still have to weed, but I am trying to cut it down....right now, I have to pretty much weed every single night, and it's getting cumbersome.

You asked "What would YOU plant". Okay - as mentioned above, I'd not like looking at the cinder blocks either. I'd go to Walmart and get myself at least 3 Crimson Pygmy Barberries ($6.95 per). Ooh Ooh thorns!! People don't seem to care about thorns with their roses!

Since this is zone 6, I might consider some of the new boxwood varieties instead of barberry. There are also the spireas to think about - some smaller mounding ones. But those lose their leaves and you'll be looking at sticks for the winter... not so with either the barberry or boxwood. You have to give shrubbery some space and not plant them smack against the cinderblocks.

The dot & dash planting you're doing now will never grow together to become something lush. Your garden needs bones - just a few because it's a relatively small space. Put in a few shrubs and the quandry about other things is well on the way to being solved.

Consider some sedums, the 18" tall grey/green ones that form nice clumps; coral bells (heuchera) are good for borders.

Takes a while to get your feet wet with gardening - most of us old hands are still learning.

Well, I'd start by stuccoing and painting the wall. Then I'd plant a line of something like Pennisetum in front of that. Then the rest is whatever fairly short perennials took my fancy.

wall those crimson barberries look really neat! That certainly would look good against the back wall, and I like the idea it would even be there in the winter. So you can really pick them up from Walmart for about $7? That's a pretty good price....right in my range.

Personally I would not plant barberries. You will get sick of them and they have thorns, which isn't great for any area you intend to garden.

Any small green conifer would look better IMHO and wouldn't stab you when you try to weed.

As for perennials, I would plant perennial geraniums which bloom for a long time and are very low-maintenance.

Even though Barberry is pretty, it is invasive in natural areas (to the point that barberry has been banned in some states) so I would avoid planting it. Actually I pulled the ones that the former homeowner had planted at my house when I moved here for that reason.

If you want a colorful shrub, consider Fothergilla or Sweetspire 'Little Henry' - both will produce beautiful color during Fall! They also produce fragrant flowers. Additionally, they are native to America so they are already suited to grow here.

Balloon Flower is a great perennial. It's very easy to grow, long-lived, and it flowers for a long time.

I would suggest baptisia as another very pretty long-lived plant.

I am a big fan of Echinaceas. Just do research on the specific variety before you buy (look on this forum for threads about echinacea) because some of the new fancy varieties are duds. Others are great though. I have had Echinacea 'Magnus' for years and it does well. I just planted 'Pow wow Wildberry', 'Hot Summer' and 'Hot Papaya' this year.
Coreopsis 'Zagreb' is a good grower and would be easy too.
I am also trying out Coreopsis 'Sienna Sunset' and 'Red Shift' this year.

oh.....well too late on the Barberry.....I planted 3 tonight as suggested by one poster.....I also put Buzz Butterfly Bush in the far right/left corners....it says they get about 4ft tall, which would be just tall enough to slightly peak over the porch....they smelled great too! My only problem now is that the Barberry is really close to the Gallardia and Salvia now....I may have to dig them up and move them closer to the front of the bed for better spacing. I ran out of time tonight to do any more.