Astilbe, off the top of my head (not literally!).

For shrubs, I would suggest rhododendrons. For other flowering plants, maybe bleeding hearts and aquilegias might suit your fancy.

I like ligularia othello,
It's a perennial that gets the size if a small shrub and dies back every winter.
and hostas I love hostas!!
:)Laura

Well it really depends on what sort of look you are going for, and what area is involved. For instance: I have a mostly shady "L" formed by two sides of my house. Last year we put in a new paver patio with deep beds surrounding it. I made it my "white" garden, planting Alba bleeding hearts, several variegated hostas, a couple of large white hydrangeas, and white flowering evergreen azaleas. I also have two compacta inkberry bushes there since it is a foundation garden. I love the look of it! This year, on its sunny outskirts, I'm adding some white zinnias, a lot of German chamomile, and maybe a few white petunias.
This plan works for this area because it's highly visible, gets a lot of traffic with the new patio, doesn't need much care, and even right now with snowdrifts all over it, there's structure and some evergreen foliage visible.
In a more naturalistic setting, though, choices would be different.

Clethra alnifolia (Summersweet) blooms in full shade, has beautifully scented blooms and foliage turns a great gold color in fall. 'Hummingbird' is a short variety and 'Ruby Spice' blooms pink instead of the usual white.

I also really like Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf Hydrangea). Great foliage, blooms can be enormous and the fall color is great.

Japanese Maples come in a ridiculous variety of sizes, colors, shapes & foliage types.

So, there is life in this forum after all. I should have mentioned that this is for a 1.5 acre woodland area which at this point used mostly by deer! Astilbe and bleeding heart are great ideas that never occurred to me. But hostas are like deer candy and only survive close to the house. They have also chomped on rhododendrons and seem to really like oakleaf hydrangea. I have had poor results with clethra in another place, though maybe that location is too shadey or too damp... Ligularia looked good - I will have to give it a try. And a white garden sounds great, but as you say - not for here. Because of the deer at our other house, we tried a gray garden area and that worked but was a bit limited.
Thanks guys.

Clethra should do fine with damp conditions.
Also Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud), Carex, Hakonechloa macra 'Aurea', Cimicifuga, Corydalis, Digitalis grandiflora (Yellow Foxglove), ferns! ferns! ferns!, Hellebores, Kirengeshoma palmata (Yellow Waxbells), Myrrhis odorata (Sweet Cicely), Podophyllum (May Apple), Pulmonaria, Rodgersia.

I love all these plants. I've been working on a little 'Deer-Resistant Shade Gardening' project this winter, so I had my list handy.

There's a workshop on the subject being offered at Phantom Gardener in Rhinebeck. The instructor is super-knowledgeable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deer Resistant Shade Plants workshop at Phantom

I'm interested to hear what your plan of attack is for the multiflora roses. I have a few monster clumps that will need to be removed one of these days.

There is nothing graceful about digging these out. If the stems are under about an inch, I cut back one side and then try to push the rest of the plant over; get to the base and force in a spade about 8" from the base. I can generally do this around 3/4 of it from one side, pry it up, and eventually wrestle it out. For bigger clumps I have found the only way is to cut the stems close to the ground (when you can get to them) and drag them away. They can be 10-15 feet long if they were growing up into trees. Then dig or chop or cut - whatever works. Then keep on top of what might be popping up around that spot for a couple of years. I make a pile and let the stems dry out. They crush down once they're dry. I would welcome a better solution if anyone has one. I generally don't come away totally unscathed.

lmw845,

I finally had a chance to research the items on your list. Several of them are new to me and all seem like good suggestions. And the Phantom Gardener is right across the river, so the workshop is on the calendar. Thanks - Best of luck.

lmw845, that is a great list! I might actually steal some of those ideas too, because in the unfenced portions of my property the deer rampage nightly. I am also tentatively adding the Phantom workshop to my calendar. Thanks!

My strategy for removing multiflora is same as for removing barberry: start by cutting down canes close to ground level with a pole pruner (I've got one of those telescoping Fiskars jobs) so you don't get whipped by the thorny canes. Then dig around roots as much as possibly, cutting through some or all with hand pruners, ax, saw, whatever ya got.

Every time I do that with barberry, I guess I leave some of the roots because the darned thing comes back stronger the following year. I mega-hate barberry. Every time I see them in the nursery I get mad.
I got rid of my multiflora rose by digging it out too, which DID work the second year I tried it. Heh.