My St. John's Wort seems to be an evergreen. I didn't know this when I ordered it, but it is a neat little plant. They have the pretty flowers all summer which turn to berries.

As far as evergreens, I also have bamboo, which I loooove! Not especially cottagy though. (Unless you had a cottage in the jungle, I guess. haha)

Lucky- Welcome to the forum!

You have a tricky situation, with a shade garden that gets some afternoon sun. I'm sure there will be lots of people, who give you good ideas about what to plant.

I thought I'd answer your clay issue, or at least tell you how I fixed mine. Horse manure! Lots of it...about half manure to half clay. If your garden bed isn't very big, you could probably buy a few bags. We have horses...so there are the benefits! LOL

It sounds like you have some great ideas. Don't forget to post pictures! :)

Some good dwarf evergreens include: birds nest spruce, dwarf scotch pine, Little Gem spruce, Montgomery dwarf spruce, dwarf globe cedar. I think they all need sun. Dwarf evergreens are great in that they don't need to be trimmed back as much as other evergreens.

Scully - Thanks for the ideas!

Lavender lass - Thanks for the tips, not sure I could find horse manure around here, maybe steer? It's not that big of a bed. I had hoped the compost I'd been adding helped some but it hasn't helped the soil that's a foot plus down where the poor tree roots were trying to grow. I guess once the tree is out will be the perfect time to start amending the soil, maybe even over the winter?

Lois - I love the idea of some dwarf conifers, there are some parts of this bed that get a pretty good amount of sun.

I wasn't able to figure out how to post a picture. I have uploaded one to photobucket but couldn't figure out the way to link it here.

Thanks!

Lucky- Are you going to wait until spring to plant the bed? If you're in zone 8, I'm guessing this would be a good time to add the manure and maybe some leaves...and if it's not frozen out...a little topsoil...and then let everything sit until spring. Then, you can turn it over and get ready to plant.

Depending on the heat, the manure might get a little "strong" without dirt on top, but with our cold winters and snow, the best thing for us, is to toss some manure on in the late fall and turn it under in the spring. Hope that helps :)

Oh, don't forget that some manure may contain seeds (depending on where you get it) and you'll get weeds, so you may need to toss some plastic over it for a few weeks, before you plant. If you check out CMK's weed post, you'll see what my former horse corral looked like last summer. Best dirt I've ever had, but the weeds!!! LOL

If your going to go major on the bed then I would start by digging it up to a depth of 18 inches putting down gravel for several inches for drainage add a french drain if you have to remembering to slope in at least one inch per foot out to a storm ditch/drain and then mix the clay in with your existing loosened soil from the compost. This should work unless your sitting right above a reclaimed swamp.

The other way to go is a raised bed.

I'm wondering if you mean an entry like to your driveway or the entry to your house.

I wouldn't put trees next to a foundation because the roots can mess with your plumbing. But that's just me.
But if it is the entry to your driveway then I love the idea of evergreens. Just be sure to put them back enough that when they mature they don't block the drive in anyway. I really hate having to do a hard pruning on evergreens because I can never get them to look natural again. Also make sure that water is available without the roots to go looking across the driveway for it. Don't want the roots to damage your driveway either.

These are the kinds of things that I consider because I hate having to move something once I plant it. Not to say that I don't do it often.