Any ideas how much sun (hours) and what time of the day it would get the sun? Also, if you know a little about the soil like clay or sandy would help.

Here are a few general shrub recommendation that are tolerant of partial shade and are commonly sold in MN. This list could change if it is really deep shade.

Annabelle hydrangea, possibly the Endless Summer hydrangea
Dogwoods-many varieties, including variegated
Rhododendrons-need acid soil
Viburnum

Also investigate some perennials for flowers such as:

Bleeding heart
Astilbe
Filipendula
Cimicufuga (Bugbane)

Finally, also consider that beautiful shade gardens can be built around the contrasting color, textures of leaves and growth habits of plants. So although there won't be a lot of bold flowers, there is still a lot of color and interest. Splashes of color can always be added with summer annuals that tolerate shade.

Thanks for the reply!

It pretty much doesn't get any direct sun (I will link to some pics). The soils around here are clay. The idea is to have something low maintanance in the front (hence the shrubs and not flowers) because we have plenty of flower beds in the back. We are looking for ideas for each side of the bay windows in the front.

One thing I forgot to mention, is that the shrubs will have to be decent size heightwise since it is a two story house (see pics) and the proportion should be kept in mind.

We are also trying to think of something to put along the sidewalk on the side away from the house. Nothing too big and nothing that will encroach and empede movement on the sidewalk (Trust my, my Uncle's sidewalk became a jungle, and hence the front door was never used!).

Thanks again

Here is a link that might be useful: House pics

Is this the area you're talking about?

{{gwi:250741}}

Because of the large scale and unusual style of the house, this will be quite a challenging area to design.

Yes, that is the area, on either side of the two bay windows (one in kitchen, one in living room to the other side of the entryway).

(I designed the house myself.)

You might get better help on the landscaping forum, but let me make a few suggestions, though they would be better if we could see the entire front elevation.

Because the house is so massive, small foundation plantings won't work. You must tie the house to the ground with beds that extend some distance in front of the house. (Though I am not, of course, talking about a solid bed that follows the whole length of the front of the house at the same distance.)

If we could see the whole elevation, I could suggest places for small tree(s) which you would then "connect" to the house with smaller shrubs and groundcovers.

This is very different from planting large shrubs too close to the house, which is apparently what happened to your uncle's house.

It's less of a design problem than a plant problem because of the extremely limited number of plants that I know of that will grow there. Conifers are out because they want sun. Broadleaf evergreens are out because of a combination of cold and lime. Flowering shrubs will survive, but not do better than that because they want more sun. There are yews and hemlock, and we currently can't even plant hemlock.

The full house is available at the site previously listed (and given below).

The current situation is this:

1. We need something close to the house (between the sidewalk and the foundation/house) in order to prevent erosion into the escape/window wells and to tidy up the "mud" look.

2. Then we will be looking at items for on the other side of the sidewalk to break it up from the rest of the lawn.

3. Lastly, after the above two, we will be dealing with landscaping the front yard....right now, however, that is a lower priority and we can live with the "pseudo-grass" we have.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of the house

If all you're looking for are evergreens that can take shade, I would suggest looking at yews (assuming deer are not a problem). There are upright and spreading ones and are easily pruned. You might also contact your state extension office or local master gardeners for suggestions for your zone.

A number of Spireas are hardy for you, and will remain small, i.e. S. thunbergii 'Mt. Fugi'--3-4 ft; S. media 'Snow Storm'- 3ft, etc.

do you have enough room for a viburnum plicatum? they allegedly do well in clay.

oops, I'm not sure v. plicatum will be hardy for you (z. 5-8). there must be some kind of viburnum, though. I'll keep thinking.