Dilemma: Half of Garden Bed is Sunnier than Other Half

I have an area along the front of my white vinyl sided house about 4 feet wide and 30 feet long. In Spring and Summer, the left half receives full sun from about 2:30pm to 6:30pm and dappled/filtered sun after that. The right half receives full sun from about 3pm until 5:30pm and dappled/filtered sun after that. During the shorter days of fall and winter, this whole area is fully shaded(Northwestern exposure) until 2:00pm and at that time only the far right corner is in full sun. The rest of the area doesn't receive a great deal of full sun because the sun is lower at this time of year and is already beginning to set behind Oak trees.

My dilemma is what to plant on the sunnier left half & what to plant in the shadier right half that will look good together as a whole? I prefer to have some evergreen, so it isn't all bare the whole winter.

I live in coastal SC where it is very hot and humid in summers- we have a pretty long growing season (Mid-March through December and sometimes even into mid-January). We are lucky if we get a decent rain during those months...rarely do we ever get 4 inches a month, so I have to water things by hand with the hose or use a soaker hose.

Previously, this bed along the foundation in the front of the house was pure sand. In October, I began amending it with chopped up Oak leaves, Black Kow Composted Manure, Mushroom Compost, bagged garden soil and Soil Conditioner (tiny pine bark pieces.) I check on it from time to time and it looks so much healthier and I even saw some earthworms!

When we bought the house, there were 6 Azalea Formosa planted in this area forming one long hedge. While they bloomed beautifully in Spring, they grew way too tall, covering the 2 front windows despite being pruned back heavily after flowering. However, by the end of summer, they were already half way covering the windows again. On top of that, they were so dense, sun couldn't reach the lower half and the bark was green with mold. It took a very long time for the lower portions to dry after a good rain. AND the white vinyl siding covered by the Azaleas was turning green, too! Therefore we transplanted the Azaleas along the fence line in the backyard last fall.

Since then, the area has been bare and in dire need of some plants! So I am hoping someone can help me out here with some ideas!
Thanks!

Dwarf Nandina? There are several that stay about 3' or less.
The smaller ones stay compact.
They do not mind sun to bright shade, and are often a good choice in a mixed spot like this.

Diana - Do Nandina spread in any way, shape, or form? It seems that when growing up as a child, my parent's house had several (what I think were Nandina) along the foundation bed in front of their house. About 10 years ago, my husband and I spent 2 weeks pulling/digging them out and all of their little offspring that had popped up everywhere all over the bed. It was a nightmare.

However, I have seen many varieties since then that I think are beautiful but have been afraid to buy for that reason. I will look into the Dwarf Nandina, though and see if they would work.

I was considering using 2 Knockout Roses Radtkopink on the sunnier side and maybe coleus, Autumn Ferns & perhaps one or two Philodendron Xanadu on the shadier side. I have a lot of different plants in my greenhouse waiting to be planted in warmer weather, which include all of the above plus 2 Encore Azaleas Autumn Amethyst which grow to 4x4, and one Wintergreen Korean Boxwood to name a few. The reason I only have 1 boxwood is because a neighbor bought a bunch the other week, and had one extra after planting them, so she offered it to me and I took it.

If I could just have something evergreen in the center of the bed (where there is no window) to keep it from looking so bare in winter, I won't mind having annuals, bulbs, or plants I have to overwinter inside on the sides. So, if you can think of any that fit the bill, let me know.

Thanks for reminding me about Dwarf Nandina. I'm gonna go check into that now.

Some spread more than others. Any variety with berries can be spread by birds. Most spread slowly by underground runners, making a tight clump, not really running.

Harbor Dwarf is a running variety. It does not produce much (or any) fruit, but spreads via underground runners. This one can be invasive.

IME The older varieties tend to reseed the most:
N. domestica itself
N. domestica 'Compacta'
a few others.

Excerpt from:
http://www.canr.org/pastprojects/2007005.pdf
...ten Nandina cultivars and the wild type form were evaluated in north and south Florida for landscape performance, fruiting, and seed viability (Knox and Wilson, 2006). Research showed that cultivars such as 'Monum' (Plum Passion®) and 'Compacta' perform well in the landscape
but set considerable fruit containing viable seed.
'Filamentosa' and 'Firepower' failed to flower or fruit and other cultivars such as 'Gulf Stream', Jaytee' (Harbour Belle®), and 'Harbour Dwarf' had above average visual quality rankings and little or no fruit production. Seed viability was fairly consistent among cultivars, ranging from 73% to 86%.
At the end, they say more research into more varieties is on going.

Any variety bred to not have berries won't reproduce that way, though they may still spread underground. Most do not spread very far, though. These are not true bamboo.

Anyway, since you describe moss or algae growing on the branches of some of the other plants in that area, I think those areas are decidedly shady, so Azaleas and so on are good choices there.
The longer terms afternoon sun might work for roses. I would not buy too many of any one plant, though. Perhaps 1-2 of each species you want to test, then go get more of whatever worked.

Diana~ I'm gonna try really hard NOT to buy any plants this summer & work with what I already have. Of course, I am sure *something* will catch my eye at the nursery LOL

Anyway, I already have 3 Knockout roses (Radtkopink) and 2 Encore Azaleas, in which I bought a week ago, and are still in their pots waiting for the rain to cease so they can be planted. Today will be our 1st sunny day since last Monday and with the time change coming this weekend, I think the upcoming sunny week will give me a better idea on exactly how much sun this area will get without the Azalea Formosa there anymore.

As for the moss and algae on the previous Azaleas in that area, I don't think it was due as much to fewer hours of sun as it was due to the dense growth & being planted so closely together. In the shorter days, the area, of course, didn't get as much sun, but the denseness of the Azaleas prevented ANY light from reaching the lower branches & the ground took many rainless days to dry out. Of course, tons of oak leaves covered the area under those Azaleas during late fall, winter, and early spring which helped keep it wet, too. (I didn't put the leaves there...they were blown there by the wind!) The area wasn't wet at all during summer (we get little rain), leaves were removed, but the moss/algae had already consumed the lower branches.

Thanks for your help and the information on the Nandina varieties. I will pay close attention to how much sun that area gets this coming week after the time change and then let you know what I finally decide to do.