Mahonia

A low, ground-hugging evergreen shrub of the Rocky Mountain West (also called creeping Oregon grape; NC State files it under the synonym Berberis repens). It spreads by underground stems into a holly-leaved mat 12-24 inches tall, with blue-green pinnate compound foliage that flushes bronze-to-purple-red in winter, fragrant yellow flower clusters in spring, and glaucous blue-black grape-like berries in summer. Tough, cold-hardy, and shade- and drought-tolerant once established — among the best evergreen native groundcovers for dry shade.

Mahonia japonica (syn. Berberis japonica) is an evergreen architectural shrub native to Taiwan — the "Japanese" name reflects centuries of cultivation in Japan, not its wild origin (Wikipedia, Berberis japonica). It earns its place in the winter garden through long, pendant, intensely fragrant yellow flower racemes borne from autumn through early spring, followed by blue-black berries; the RHS has awarded it the Award of Garden Merit. The honest catch is a three-part cluster: the berries and foliage contain berberine alkaloids (mildly toxic to people and pets, and the berries are ornamental — not to be eaten), the spiny hollylike leaflets make pruning and under-planting a literal ordeal, and in mild maritime climates bird-dropped seed can produce stray seedlings in border edges.