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Hi there. And, check out the New England forum over here on GardenWeb.

I hesitate to suggest anything for a totally sunless garden in a zone with real 4 season gardening requirements. Most things require a bit of sunlight to perform.

Not sure about this, but you have one evergreen doing well in your location? Is it a conifer? Could you try to add more conifers along that dark spot? Or something like a redbark dogwood?

And, have you thought about putting a walkway closer to the house and having your plants further away from the house along that northern side? I'm curious if your shade is produced by having a two story home which blocks the sun all year round. And is it ALL YEAR that you have no light there?

Have you tried bleeding heart, ferns, moss, I hesitate to suggest lily of the valley it is so invasive. You want winter and summer interest. Hmmmm, a hard one.

I was thinking about some architectural interest there. Maybe a walkway with some tall arbor covering it down that side of the house. I saw a great old arbor when we visited Sturbridge Village, but it was sort of rounded over. If you have a tall house, a tall straight arbor would work nicely too. Put it up a section at a time to keep from spending your money all at once. :)

Maybe try some rhododendrons or hardy azaleas which might not bloom well with NO sunlight, but they look good. And check out the Blue Prince and Blue Princess holly (you gotta have a girl and a boy).

Thank you moccasinlanding.I have a ranch style one story home.But the north foundation out to about ten feet from the house is all shade.I guess it gets indirect sunlight.Because snow on the mountain grew thereas well as weeds.And the evergreen i believe is some kind of spruce.I would fill the area with hosta but i would like something with a little height as well.Thinking hydrangeas.Maybe a dog wood or some barberry.I will definetly put lots of hostas in.I already have a list going.

I am in zone 5 in Eastern NY state. My North side is off an attached garage plus a room, and is not completely dark. There is early morning and late afternoon sun (sun goes around the house). I have planted there PJM rhododendrons and hollies for 25 years, with hostas in between them. My paved and brick path to the backyard is 8 ft away from the house. In the middle of the North side starts the fence for the back yard with a gate. Bernd

You are a bit north of me. My northern foundation garden gets about 3 hours of direct sun before the suns rays ib uts trip to the zenith are blocked by the house. This year with the drought and heat has been grueling on my hostas planted there. While not a problem to you since you are far enough north to not have any direct sun, I have to warn newbies who are using this forum as a lurning experience about a danger with foundation gardens. The reflected sun rays from the structure, depending on the color of the structure, creates a micro-zone that can increase you heat-zone considerably. I am in Z5 but a sunlight foundation garden might be more like Z6.5 or 7.

If there is a Dogwood(Cornus) tree that is hardy here I would like to try it but I have no idea how the roots of Dogwood might compete with the hostas. I might try a lilac. I definitely need some relief from the morning sun in July. Now that the days are shorter, meaning the sun is moving relatively farther to the south, it is no longer a problem. Another option strictly from an above ground viewpoint is Eastern Redbud, but again I don't know about its roots.

I too had Bishops Weed, plus Lilly of the Valley growing there and through pulling, digging,hoeing and the use of Rondup I almost have the newest area clear of that hosta nemisis, Bishops Weed. I've even sifted my soil in some areas and still tiny roots managed to escape and little BW had to be hoed or pulled.