THey'll do great in either. In the Rockies, they grow wild above the treeline, adn they thrive in my shade gardens.

I have a few columbines, zone 6-7 WV-DC

Coral columbine (collected wild along a ditch on Route 50) is thriving by a white wall in morning sun in a pink garden. Gets a lot of shade in afternoons from nearby buildings. Small but doing great.

Nora Barlow (peppermint stripe bought on eBay) is in full afternoon sun on white wall, dryish rock garden with rich soil. Has stayed fairly small but healthy and made some seeds.

Yellows (collected from friend's garden) transplated 2" seedlings to shady, dry soil on a raised terrace--it never grew, then died.

Blues columbine (from eBay) and yellows are now WS on my deck.

I'd say stay away from deep shade. Not only from my problems with dry shade, there is wild columbine growing on the Shenandoah River here in deep, moist shade but it seems to not want to flower. Needs more sun I think.

Try "cool feet and hot heads" (like columbine). Shady around their feet but gets some morning or afternoon sun.

Keep them away from dry soil and they will be fine.

I had some growing in shade that stayed small and never bloomed for 2 or 3 years. When I moved some of the plants out into full sun they tripled in size and bloomed like crazy.

Ginger

I have McKana's giants in almost full shade (no sun until about 4 or 5 p.m.). They did great last year- big and tall and lots of blossoms.

I planted some origami in sun and they fried most of the summer. I think our summer sun might be to much for them. The amount of sun they like probably depends on your location and zone.

Karen