You might want to look at some of the daintier succulents that aren't water-hungry over the summer months when your spring bulbs are taking a rest. Sedum (though some can be weedy), some of the Crassula family, Echeveria and Pachyphytum are some possibles. Or herbs such as catmint, thyme - and some of the more elegant sages. If the bed is under a tree you could try Lamium with silvery leaves, or white and green leaves, and white or pink flowers. Another semi-shade toughie is Ajuga, and the low-growing Scutellarias can be pleasant, too. For full sun, and if you are safe with bees, Agastache will give you summer colour and is not greatly thirsty. My bulbs grow through all of these. So long as you don't vastly over-water, the bulbs should be fine.

Kat - I have a source for it - around $10 for a six in pot. Let me know and I'll get some for the swap. You this plant needs full sun, all day long for really black color, right? Otherwise it goes back to green.

More than likely they yellowed because of lack of water, since foot traffic can disturbe soil structure. Do not aerate. A general fertilizer from Wal Mart will be fine. No need to cut back. I have raised it for years and unlike liriope it does need trimming back. Throw some manure or compost around so when spring rains come it should wash through. Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials.

hello mrcarron64... you're tailing on someone else's post so I'm not sure this will reach you. I would expect after 10 years, the patch may just exhaust itself much as a lawn might do.... parts get choked with roots, there may be pockets that miss nutrition or water because of that. Or of course the occasional disease, root-eating grubs etc. If you are unfenced, consider the occasional dog visiting and urinating. Bit late in the season but perhaps you should talk to the nursery people about whether a restart of the area would freshen it up, dig up, divide, save healthy plants, freshen the soil and start over? Just a thought. If that's a bit too drastic, I'd think of doing a test for grubs... leave a wet bag on an area adjacent to the dead patch over night and lift early morning and see if anything has risen to the surface after a night of chomping roots. Or, just dig out the affected sections, salvage what you can or buy new plants and separate and plug the gaps and wait for re-growth to fill.