Yes, there are maple trees nearby! I just did more googling for norway maple seedlings and that's exactly what it is (I find the leaves and wing looking things all over my garden). Thank you so much! Now on to figuring out how to tackle this

thanks, will see, my David phlox is not close to the size of these plants. Which seems odd

Based on the shade, I go with mt. Laurel and azaleas. There are plenty that will be about the right height. Mt. Laurel minuet, for example. Azalea Weston's lollipop. Dwarf Fothergillia. They will do well with part shade. If you have sun, you have more choices, but I'm not as sure of them, given that my yard has part shade, shade and deep shade. Try Bluestone perennials. They have plenty of shrub choices.

Now is great time to prune dormant shrubs. What type of shrubs are they, though? If they're spring bloomers, you're sacrificing the spring show. Same with summer bloomers if they're ones that set buds on last year's growth, so best to trim right after flowering if you don't want to sacrifice the flowers. If that's not a concern to you, then have at it, it's a good time. Best times aside, though -- if you have to move things you have to move things. I've broken pretty much every planting, transplanting, and pruning best practices and have found that things usually turn out just fine; I have to garden on my timetable, I don't have the luxury of an abundance of free time to do things when they "should" be done -- stuff gets done when it gets done. That said, unless you must move the spring bulbs, I'd wait -- I so look forward to the spring bulb show it'd be a shame to miss out on that. But, if you have to you have to...