Beginner Gardening: Suggestions for plants that grow well in shaded areas, 0 by alayah

alayah wrote:
The north side of my house is mostly shaded. When we moved in there were some overgrown shrubs growing really well there, that we ripped out. My grass and weeds grow well there. I'd like to plant something that compliments what we have growing in the front of the house, which is the picture I have attatched. The salvia is now blooming and a bit larger than it was in the picture taken two weeks ago.
The cistena plum bushes are pretty much the same.

The side of the house I'd like to plant on would be to the right side of where this picture is. We have about 6 feet from the side of the house up to the sidewalk/weird low metal rail. (you can kind of see part of this on the right side of the pic) I don't really want to plant all of that, I'd still like a narrow strip of grass between the planted area and the sidewalk.

I like the look of coleus(sp?) and have read it does better in shaded areas color wise. I'm bummed that it's an annual here. What would go well with that to break up the height a little and be easy to care for? I'd really like to use perennials if possible.