Green and Gold, Chrysogonum virginianum, native. It blooms in shade and sun for me.

Wood poppy stylophorum diphyllum although it spreads a bit strongly by popping seed heads if you don't deadhead. It works in sun or shade, although in full sun it is ephemeral going dormant in August. Neither the deer nor the bunnies bother it. Bright strong yellow 1.5 inch flowers from early April until July if you deadhead. Stops blooming in mid to late May w/o deadheading. If you want some, I can bring you some at the Spring swap.

For something that blooms yellow later in the summer, there are dwarf goldenrods like Solidago sphacelata 'Golden Fleece'

how short is short? coreopsis would be a good option depending on height. there is a variety for just about every height now that I think of it.

dandelion

just jokin

I just planted Lady's Mantle. It's a bright, cool yellow and I believe it likes full sun in your zone.
Lori

LOL campanula!!

:)
Dee

I bought some dwarf coreopsis "Nana" at Lowe's this week. Loaded with blooms!

Doronicum blooms in early spring about the same time as the dandelions around here. It's short and reliable but not a long bloom time.
Coreopsis Zagreb has come back several years for me. It's about 12" to 18" so don't know if that's short enough. It flowers in the summer and they last for a while.

Thanks guys. I looked up your suggestions kimka and sandyslopes. Looked nice but I don't have the space for a possible spreader. Have had coreopsis april_wine but it gets too messy looking for my taste.

Got a good chuckle out of your "suggestion", campanula âºâºâºâº!

I think I may just have to stick with an annual every year. Couldn't remember name of what I saw last year, but it was really nice.

Have a good summer everyone.

Aurinia saxatilis, Basket of gold is early blooming, short, and bright yellow.

Geum comes to mind first

I grow Penstemon pinifolius 'Mersea Yellow' which stays well below a foot for me. There are delosperma which bloom yellow. Both these will do well with less water than many perennials.

There are a bunch of columbine in yellow shades, and though many will be a bit taller, they are airy enough so that this may not be a problem since the foliage stays under a foot.

There are several kinds of Sedum with yellow blossoms or you could try Sedum rupestre âÂÂAngelinaâ which has bright yellow green foliage in warm weather and picks up shades of orange in cold weather.

Doronicum orientale Little Leo is about 1'x1' and has bright yellow daisies. A couple of other plants with daisy-like flowers include some of the shorter coreopsis such as some of the cultivars of lance leaf coreopsis (they don't all spread like the threadleaf coreopsis) and yellow gaillardias such as golden goblin.

There are some shorter daylily cultivars that might fit the bill. I have one that is a yellow repeat bloomer that I don't think gets over 12 inches. It hasn't spread much either.

There are several types of shorter bulbs with yellow flowers if you want the yellow season to start earlier, including crocus, danford iris, some of the shorter daffodils, and Eranthis aka winter aconite.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Gaillardia Arizona Sun. Long time bloomer, you have to cut it back in the fall or it will bloom itself to death. Grows about 12" tall.

Try one of the many varieties of potentilla.

Here is an example.

Hi, again. Wanted to respond to all of your suggestions.

Really wanted an "all summer" bloomer to contrast with the other colors in this bed, so a spring bloomer like aurinia, even though pretty would not work. We already have a lot of geum in several other beds, and I enjoy its wonderful color, but again it is an early bloomer.

We have about 60 beds all told and my husband is particular about what goes where. He doesn't like most sedum. [Does like a couple of varieties that we have out front].

Gaillardia is out because it gets out of hand too fast.

I am afraid that the potentilla would be too much of a bush type plant for what he wants for these beds.

We have had coreopsis and he really didn't like it [although it is still trying to come up around a lamppost and I think it would be good there so am trying to "encourage" it.âºâº]

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to try to help me out.

I wish the potentilla would work as it looks like a very pretty plant. Although might not be the best anyway as we have very rich soil and it looks like it would do better in a somewhat sandy soil.

The Penstemon looks pretty to me, but might be too airy for my husband - he also seems to like fuller leaves. We did have a reddish pink variety of penstemon once in another bed that did not do well under similar light and soil conditions.

I love the look of the Doronicum orientale Little Leo, but it is only a spring bloomer. Even so, I am going to show it to my husband. It would be a really pretty contrast to the husker red that is in the space near it. Thank you for that idea.