Kim Gamel The brunnera should stay the same color regardless of shade. Mine are in pretty deep shade but still look silvery.

California Fence Company I liked all the potted plants. The best thing about the potted plants are that you can keep them in a garden or even in the balcony of high raised building. You can take it along with you when ever you are shifting to a new place. Carex ‘Ice Dance’ is something that I really liked as it can be mixed and matched with other plants

Sarah Farrell Angela Pascoe- check your hardiness zone map. Hosta & astilbe are shade loving plants and Hosta Hans for example is only hardy in zones 3-7. So start with knowing your zone and what kind of light areas of your yard gets throughout the day, select plants from there. Some online plant retailers have the option to search by zone etc.

woodsincity Sarah, Thank you! I have just put in a dwarf Crabapple ( ours in ME have Berries less than 1/2 in.) I can see that Hakone Grass might be very nice under my new tree!