Shade Gardening: Need ideas for a shady bed, 1 by doss

doss wrote:
I cut the flower stems off. No point in ruining a nice foliage plant. :-)

There are a lot of ligularias.
http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin/searchstuff.pl?Botanica...

I don't think that you need another tall tree. I think that you might like a shrubby tree like a Crimson Queen Japanese Maple on the left. You can build a garden around something like that. How shady is the space?

This is early spring so the hostas aren't up yet but it's a crimson queen with artemisia Powis Castle. It's not hardy in your area but you could grow it as an annual, grow Stachys or a gray hosta. There is a small yellow hosta there and daylilies behind.

The plants aren't important but layering colors and textures is.

Why don't you take this tour. You might get some great ideas. Her garden is a warm climate zone but the ideas can be transferred. She uses a lot of hens and chicks by the way and many can be grown in your zone.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/605799/