I'm in zone 6A and I love coral bells for the shade. They're supposed to be deer resistant, but I don't have problems with deer, so I'm not totally sure. I do know the rabbits leave them alone.

I got mine two or three years ago and they've doubled in size. Very hardy and need little to no care. I'm not sure about all the fancy colored ones though. Mine are just green with rosy pink flowers.

I second the coral bells (or Heuchera) suggestion. They have come out with some amazing varieties in the last few years. I just received a Heuchera Spellbound and it "struck" me with it's wonderful lavender and purple tones right out of the package! It has only gotten more beautiful in the last few weeks and seems to have established itself with no effort. I also received Green Spice and it looks great combined with Spellbound. I'm sure you will find some that call to you, there are so many to choose from!

Also, variegated Solomon's Seal have done well for shade locations for me. They look great for three seasons, and then disappear in the Winter only to pop back up in Spring looking great again. Also, Cast Iron plants. They have beautiful variegated ones now. Again, no maintenance, they just disappear in the Winter and show back up in Spring. I would also recommend a Brunnera. Jack Frost seems to be all the rage now, but I have heard that Sea Heart is actually a better newer variety and has better heat tolerance than Jack. Of course, a sprinkling of Hellebores for Winter/Spring interest.

You may want to think about some hardy geraniums for the sunnier shade area. Rozanne is the automatic go to, but there are others that are nice, as well. Hope this helps!

well it would help if you posted some pictures
based on what your are describing it sounds like ferns would be the right choice for you. In the first area there is a species of fern called Christmas fern, its an evergreen and native, so that usually means low maintence. Cinnamon fern and ostrich fern are some other good choices. In addition Wild ginger, solomans seal, crested iris, pink turtlehead, white wood aster, green and gold, black cohosh, bleeding heart. All of these are native and from my experience, they thrive on neglect. There are alot of online stores like shooting star nursery that sell these plants. Also, almost every community has a native plant sale so look into that. Good Luck!

Japanese forest grass AKA hakone grass comes in both all gold and gold variegated varieties. It grows about a foot tall, is a nice tan in winter, and is a clumper, so that in the 6 or so years I have had mine it has grown to perhaps a foot wide from a half gallon pot. It gets crisp in strong sunlight for too long, is gold in a few hours of sun and charteuse in full shade.

Cimicifuga AKA Actea AKA black cohosh AKA bugbane has leaves a bit like astilbe, but there are several types with deep red leaves. Most are about 2 feet tall until they bloom in the fall when they put up 3-4' tall stalks which are topped by white or pink bottle brushes. The dead seed heads are ornamental until a heavy wet snow knocks them down.

There are a few types of narrow boxwood, but I am not sure how well they would do with no sun. I can't think of anything other than the Heuchera AKA coral bells, Christmas fern, and hellebores that will be less than 2' wide, do well in full shade, and are evergreen; that's a tough set of requirements.

How wide is your walkway? Is there any room for perennials or shrubs to billow over allowing for more than 2 feet?

I have the exact situation you describe in 1. Here is what I have growing there:

Pulmonaria longifolia 'Roy Davidson' (leaf growth excellent, flowers seem to lack color though -- not sure if that is from lack of direct sun or not). Not truly evergreen but the leaves hang around most of the winter before they start looking bad. Deer resistant.

Helleborus ballardiae 'Pink Frost' -- just amazing looking flowers. Evergreen. Deer resistant.

Tricyrtis hirta 'Miyazaki Hybrids' -- great early fall bloomer with orchid-like flowers. Deer resistant.

Astilbe arendsii 'Bridal Veil' -- Deer resistant.

Chrysogonum virginianum 'Pierre' -- clumps and doesn't run unlike the species. Not sure how well it will bloom here since this is my first season with it. Supposedly evergreen but the leaves get ugly as winter wears on. Deer resistant.

Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) (which is not evergreen), as well as Japanese primroses will do well in this situation too.

Take the deer resistance tag with a grain of salt as I don't get deer here, but these are claims made on the plant tags. As we all know, deer resistant doesn't mean deer-proof.

This post was edited by mistascott on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 23:39

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that you would need to check for deer resistance on my suggestions, as I am not sure if they are or aren't (we don't have a deer problem, fortunately). Good luck!

Tricyrtis hirta is one of the very few plants in my garden eaten by deer, so I would take that claim with a rather large grain of salt. They ate it but didn't eat the hosta next to it. Yew is the only other plant I have had issues with deer eating.

Wow, thank you for all the great suggestions! This is very helpful! Now I have a long list of plants to check out this weekend!

Our walkway is very narrow as well - not wider than the flowerbed itself probably so not a lot of flexibility there. I divided the astilbes that were in place and they are doing great so far (my first attempt at divisions! :) ) !

We have deer, but not tons. They never touched my astillbes or yew so far, at least. Or interested in the ornamental plum tree that is close to the bed #1. But there isn't a lot of things planted around our house anyways. They seem to leave alone Azaleas in our front yard. We mostly see them in the backyard.

Any more thoughts in the shrubs? Would I have any luck with Azalea, Rhodie, or Hydrangea or that kind? Or will they suffer because of lack of direct sun? What about in the spot #2?

Also try woodland phlox -- not sure how much bloom you will get, but I see them listed as being able to deal with full shade.

Shrubs -- Clethra, kerria, camellia are all possibilities, but it may come down to trial and error.

#2 - I can't think of a hydrangea that would be able to bloom well with only a couple hours sun and they aren't happy in afternoon sun anyway. Hellebores might work...same thing with the Japanese forest grass. You might try the lime/chartreuse colored Heucheras or a Heucherella. Maybe a camellia would work there, particularly the sasanqua variety can take some afternoon sun. Maybe Japanese anemones if you get three hours or so of sun. Also, look at Bletilla striata, a terrestrial orchid that takes a decent amount of shade. Again, trial and error here. Just pick a few plants from the shade section of the nursery and see what happens.

chances are most of the plants listed here you will not be able to find at the average nursery. I and probably most of the people here do mail order...it sometimes the cheapest way to go and most convenient.

Don't forget a variety of hostas!

I have a huge nursery close by where they do have most of the plants suggested in this thread! We went over the weekend and bought some for the front garden but going back next weekend for these two shade gardens!

Through more observations, I noted that bed #1 gets a little bit of sun in AM. Maybe an hour. But not sure if this will continue to be the case when all the tall trees leaf out.

I noted that the bed #2 starts getting sun around 1:30-2pm till about 4:30-5pm. There are no trees around that bed, so that should be pretty accurate. Winter Gem Boxwood that I planted there is doing great, so it must get enough sun to get by? Maybe I get more of those since I already know that it is doing well?

Polemonium is one more (Jacob's Ladder). In bloom now and loves shade.