Help with Full Shade Garden in Zonde 7B/8A

Hello.

I am in need of assistance. I have recently purchased a house in central Mississippi. I really want to do some sort of garden in my front yard. I have two pin oak trees and a couple of Crape Mertyls in the front yard. This is on the east side of my house. The combination of the oak trees and the house keep the front yard in shadow most of the time. I have recently cut back the oak trees (to keep them from touching the roof of the house). This has allowed considerably more light into the area, but it is still very much in the shade pretty much all the time. Being in central MS, the soil is rather clayish (is that a word?) and has a lot of gravel in it.

So, now to my question/request. I am very much in need of some ideas about what would work well in my situation. I considered building some raised boxes around the trees and planting Hostas, but after reading some things here and else where I have decided that doing that could be bad for the trees (am I right in this?). I would greatly appreciate any ideas/suggestions that anyone has.

If it will help, I will be happy to post a picture of the my yard.

Thanks.

Pictures are always a help.

Here is the picture of my yard. You can see the two oaks on the left side in front of the house, and the crape myrtles at the far end.

Oh, I love your trees!
I would definitely NOT try to do raised beds around them.
Just a couple of comments and questions:
Do you have a walkway to your front door from your driveway? If not, you can create a nice garden area by putting in an interesting walkway, maybe curved, and then incorporate a garden spot. My picture is where I added a curved garden to my walkway at a former house. (You would need shade plants, but the idea is the same)

Part of the lawn looks lower, watch out for drainage patterns. You do not want to let any water run up toward your foundation. Something to keep in mind while planning. Have you been there through a summer yet?

My yard here is really similar: clay and rocks. You can add peat moss, humus, etc to help lighten it. I also spend some time picking rocks. haha

Can you send a pic from the street, looking back toward the house?

We are finally really feeling like spring here in central Alabama. Makes me want to get out there and start working!

JulieQ - to answer your questions:

I do not currently have a walkway to the front door through the yard. I like the idea of adding one.

Your observation about the yard sloping is correct. It makes sort of a shallow bowl shape. It does collect quite a bit of water when it rains. Once a bit of water has collected, it runs around the end of the house, and continues on down the hill. I am about to put gutters along the front of the house which should alleviate a bit of the water that collects there. I've been through some pretty heavy down pours, and have never seen the water actually make it to the foundation.

I'll take a picture from the street looking at the house when I get home tonight.

These are the thoughts I've had about what I'd like to do:

plant a bed of hostas and some other shade plants (need some ideas here) around and between the two oak trees and incorporate the lamp post into it. there is already a bit of monkey grass around the far oak (its pretty covered in leaves right now).

plant a bed in what is the lower right corner of the picture with maybe some azaleas or some more hostas.

I'd also do a walkway from the driveway to the front door, and from the street to the front door.
I'd also like some ideas on ground cover to fill in the space.

I really need some ideas on what plants would be good in this situation.

Some hydrangeas and heucheras are great for shade.
Vinca vine is a nice groundcover and it is blooming now. Here is a picture I took of some on the edge of my woods. When I put the daylilies there I had one small piece and in three years it has really spread!