My New Sun Garden Opportunity

Thanks to those who sent feedback (some publicly on "Comments," some privately on email) on the question of what to use in my newly exposed garden bed after the quick & unexpected dispatch of the Bradford pear tree on the parkway...you can see how shady it was from the patchy turf grass near tree roots. I inherited the Annabelle Hydrangeas and basically used the rest of the space, as I do for most of my garden, to test what works under hard circumstances; the Peking Cotoneaster did great but the Carolina Sweet Shrub, couldn't be pushed this much, which wasn't really a big surprise given its native conditions: wetter.
In my perimeters of dogs & salt, full-sun & sandy soil, I forget to mention pedestrians. This rules out the suggested Rugosa roses because thorns might attack said people...a pity when it comes to those dog owners who let their dogs wander into obvious gardens (I'm sure Dante just forgot to include a place for them in his Inferno). Mint is one of the plants that holds its own against critters of two to four legs, but I want a bolder form in this tiny space. One person rightly warned against the invasive properties of Blue Lyme grass, with which I am unfortunately intimately familiar since a previous gardener installed a patch in her perennial bed to the left of the frame. I was actually thinking of the small Purple Love Grass (Eragrostis spectabilis), a native grass that stays low and has the most endearing bloom, like little spider webs in the morn. Keeping low plants is part of my mission as I am pleased as punch about actually being able to design a section of my condo garden.
To that end, aside from the Love Grass and Allium, I am considering Sedum: it starts growing early and has a nice winter shape. After all, I do often design backwards from winter...Bayberry is something I have liked from the start, but I may need two to get proper fruiting and that may take up too much space in such a tight spot.
One of my favorite perennials is Sanguisorba tenuifolia purpurea. I tried some about a decade ago that I think I first saw in a Piet Oudolf book. Clearly, I didn't have enough sun, so we transplanted it to my neighbor's sunny bed where now, despite no longer having a gardener, being on the sidewalk (dogs) edge and supposedly needing moist soil, it has been thriving in sandy without any care except a spring cut-down. So I may try officinalis which seems to like well-drained. All the Burnets have awesome foliage!
Anyway, I am really excited and hoping to have enough time in the fall to re-do this whole area, something I have never done in this garden...mostly, I just kept pulling out what I inherited before it totally died as the previous landscaper put in everything wrong for the conditions except a double-file viburnum and a yew to cover the gas meter. One thing I have noticed over time is that I think I have too much green in the winter (a yew, some boxwood, some vinca, Christmas ferns) and it just feels too unnatural to me in this small Midwestern space. So: we shall see...