There are a couple of books that will be of big help and that you should be able to find at most libraries: The Complete Shade Garden, by George Schenk and The Natural Shade Garden, by Ken Druse. Both have great photos of a range of gardens for various shady conditions as well as listings of plants suitable for them. Be sure to add some shrubs to give the border 'bones' and structure and include some evergreen material for year round interest.

Toad lilies are really not all that showy.

What about jackobs laddar, astible, hosta, ferns, hydrangeas, supplemented by begonias, impatiens, and coleus.

I'd disagree - toad lilies are quite showy and produce a very long-lasting, late bloom season when not much else is flowering, specially in a shade garden. True, the flowers are small but look like dainty little orchids and are produced in profusion over a long period of time. There are forms with variegated foliage (gold splashes or a distinct cream edge), or solid gold foliage and the flowers range in color from lilac to reddish pink to purple and white and most with dark purple spotting. There is even a yellow flowering form, but I don't find it as attractive as many of the others. They form large colonies over time and add a very welcome splash of late season color to the shady garden. As long as they get sufficient shade and even moisture, they are pretty much trouble-free with no particular insect or disease problems.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1251427}}

There are a host of native plants that grow with little or no direct sun. George Schenk's book is probably the best book on growing in the shade. Harriet Morse's 'Gardening in the Shade" is good, if you can find it. Whatever plants you pick, use three or more in a group.

Toad lilies are gorgeous! A large patch of them is a sight to behold in the late summer and fall. I have the basic old hirta variety, and it's one of my favorite shade plants.

You must have some Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis). It's pretty much the perfect shade plant. If you don't mind a bit of scattering around, Corydalis lutea is another must-have. Both grow well for me in deep shade.

For height, try Cimicifuga or Aruncus.

Laura

Actually, hellebores prefer a good deal of sun and will grow and bloom better if they recieve at least direct sun in the morning - they are a shade 'tolerant' plant, not a shade lover. And don't look for H. orientalis - it's a species that is virtually nonexistant in commerce. What is referred to as the Lenten Rose are hybrids, correctly termed Helleborus x hybridus. Any of the hellebore species and hybrids are great plants to include but be sure to place them OUT of heavy shade for best performance.

Lisa, for the border as wide as yours (12') you definitely should start with shrubs and fill spots with perennials later on.
There are many deciduous and evergreen shrubs that could tolerate shade and will even flower with 1-2 hours of sun at most.
My property mostly in full or part shade and I have roughly about 700' of shade borders, so I tried pretty much everything (of course, not, LOL) that is suitable for for such conditions in z6. Not everything went as planned, but nevertheless, by trial and error method I think I made my borders looks interesting almost whole year around.
Very important thing to consider, your border might be in shade in a summer, but could have much more sun in a winter and in a spring, so early flowering plants and bulbs would be happy there.
One more thing, if your border is in the back of your property and mostly viewed from the distance, you probably should pay more attention to different colrs and texture of the foliage than to flowers itself, though some shade lovers (tall Astilbes, for example), if planted 'en masse' could make a pretty bold statement. Contrary to that tricyrtis (toad lily) need to be viewed up close to appreciate their beauty.
Few pictures.
3 hours of early morning sun and dappled shade thereafter till noon. (Hydrangea 'Annabelle'. Cl. hydrangea, variegated Fallopia japonica, Clethra 'Sixteen Candles', Astilbe 'Visisons', various hostas, ferns and spring bulbs. Not shown, but also there, Mahonia bealei, Chelone lyonii 'Hot lips', Tricyris 'Tojen', Cimicifuga ramosa 'Atropurpurea').

2 hours of direct morning sun and another 3 hours of dappled shade thereafter. ( Pieris, various Rhododendrons, deciduous Azalea, various Hydrangeas, Cl. hydrangea, Columbines, Painted ferns, Brunnera 'Jack Frost', variegated Fallopia, Carex 'Ice Dance', hostas and spring bulbs. Also, not shown, but there: Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon', Leucothoe fontanesia, Five-leaf Aralia, Skimmia japonica and Skimmia reevesiana.
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Only 1 hour of direct afternoon sun, but pretty bright shade from noon on.
All kind of evergreen Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Jap. anemones, hardy geraniums, tiarellas, liriope and King of that border Sambucus nigra 'Sutherland Gold'

Wow, your pictures are very nice. Your gardens are different from mine in the way that all your trees appear to be behind the plants. In my situation there are large trees between the plants so I'm not sure if I would still need to start with shrubs. I'm trying to find a picture of the area. I'm going to try some of your other suggestions and if I find a picture I'll post it.

I'd recommend taking a look at the book "The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest" by Rick Darke. It shows gardens that have achieved the effect I was aiming for in my yard, and gave me some good ideas on making my yard look better. (Started getting compliments from people with no interest in native plants).

I would like to second Laura's suggestion of cimicifuga. I have one called Cimicifuga ramosa 'brunette'. It's my favorite plant. The leaves are really, really nice. The flower cool too just because it gets so tall, but this would be my favorite plant even if it never flowered. I've read that they grow slowly, but I bought a 1 gallon plant, so I don't really know. I'd buy a lot more, but it was really expensive.
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Thanks for all the suggestions...the two plants that I'm interested in for the back of the border are the cimicifuga (nice picture) and culvers root. Can anyone give me more information about each of them? Which one takes more shade, grows faster, does better in zone 6, etc? Thanks

I've seen Culver's root (Veronicastrum virginicum) growing in full sun as well as in part shade. Mine are in part shade and doing good. Leaves are nothing to write home about, but flowers are great. Relatively inexpensive since it's easy to propagate from cuttings or divisions.
Cimicifuga prefer more shadier locations than Veronicastrum and as previous poster said, leaves itself worth all the money you'll be paying for darkleafed cultivars:
'Brunette', Hillside Black Beaty' or 'Black Neglige'.
'Atropurpurea' has a dark green, but not black leaves and bloom the last, sometimes into late October.
Since they bloom at different time you may have them both

George are you really growing a Sambucus Sutherland Gold in only one hour of direct sun? Does it hold it's color? I have one in a holding area and was thinking of giving it away because I didn't think I had a sunny enough spot (with enough moisture). Maybe I should reconsider.

Sue

Sue, you are more than welcome to come and inspect site by yourself. :-))
Yes, it's a 1 hour of direct sun only from 3 to 4pm (in spring probably 3 hours), but it's a very bright open shade at the edge of the woods.
Young leaves emerge yellow/gold and as they mature they become lime green. Since it's a vigorous grower, it produces fresh foliage till mid-July, thus it have multicolored appearance even in late August, when picture above was taken. In June-July it's almost all yellow.

I think toad lilies are really beautiful, but unless this border is at the from part of your back yard (I'm guessing it's not) I would say you probably won't be able to appreciate them fully. It is true that toad lilies begin to flower when many other plants are done, but the flowers are quite small and better enjoyed when planted somewhere that you'll be walking by or sitting near frequently. So far I have only 4 toad lilies, but I sure do love them!

George, you must have worked hard to afford such GORGEOUS property as you have there. Your plantings are lovely and your rock wall is a wonderful backdrop to all your hard work. Did you build the rock wall yourself? I couldn't even begin to imagine how long it would take to build that esp. if it's the entire 700 feet or so. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Barb
Ontario, CANADA

I've been working on shade beds now for 30 years and finally feel as though I have a handle on it. I agree strongly with those who recommend mixing shrubs in with the perennials for structure. They can be things as small and dainty as variegated kerria or as big a viburnums, Annabelle hydrangea, mountain laurel or even a clump forming small tree such as Sweet Bay Magnolia or a Service Berry. Winter holly gives good form and the berries hold on through most of the winter. I've become addicted to new leaf forms and colors to contrast with all the ferns, hostas and low growing perennials I use. Ligularias in purples, Rogersia, hydrangeas with reddish leaves or variegated leaves and this year I'm trying Japanese anemonies for the back of a border between Viburnums and a Serviceberry. In the front, I often let native wildflowers such as the white violets run among things like Astilbe pumilla, Dicentra formosa in white or pink and in the wilder part of the yard I let Mayapples grow in the spring and by fall the wild asters take over. I find it hard to cultivate every single inch of a 3/4 acre yard with much of it under large oaks and maples, so let nature help me landscape it. I'll try to go out and take some pictures to show some of the good, the bad and and ugly so you can get some ideas of what you might like vs. what you don't!