Well, you could try Nyssa sylvatica. It doesn't mind damp at all.

Do you have plans to direct the downspout into a soak pit or a garden that could use the extra water?

With the hedge there, needing to be trimmed at least annually, I think I'd be more inclined to 'pave' the area - or put in a path to at least half way from the hedge to the house wall. Gravel, or deep mulch, perhaps.

Along the house side, groups of ferns and forest glade natives could be comfortable. Pulmonaria - especially the ones with silvery leaves, and Brunnera. There's good reflected light. Perhaps some painted obelisks for height - even something dazzling because it's such a small area. Or opulent, for the same reason

Chris are you still out there looking for ideas? I have something I think is perfect for you. It doesn't care about soil or light, it even likes boggy or not. It's a spiderwort, plant name is Tradescantia andersonia usually sold as t. virginiana hence spiderwort. it grows in clumps 1-1/2 to 3ft tall with long, deep green erect or arching grasslike foliage. Three petaled flowers open for only a day but buds come in large clusters and plants are seldom without a bloom during the summer. Variety of white, pink purple. I had purple, it's very, very pretty. I grew it in the mountains and it would die back every winter and come back in the spring and bloom all summer. The description came from the western garden book, it's all zones too. I have a little boggy area in my front flower bed I ordered this from Nature Hills Nursery and they're just now shipping to my zone. I think it'll be perfect for me, I'm on my 4th planting for this little area I have and very frustrated until I remembered this plant. Anyways, it's an idea for you.

Hi
I'm the OP of this thread and I'm bumping this up because I'm STILL wondering about this. The spiderwort is a good idea, especially since its invasive tendencies don't matter here.
I worry mostly about slugs and so am looking for plants and groundcover that are slug resistant.

Interestingly, I have some giant comfrey growing back there and it actually looks like it might make for a fun ground cover, if that's what it is. The leaves are 4-5 inches big and don't lie flat to the ground.

The only other thing I'd leave there are the violas, who are loving the end of the downspout.
In some places nothing grows at all (see below) which I'm attributing the dampness. This might dry out quite a bit in very hot or droughty conditions, though.

Any further ideas for lush shade plants that laugh in the face of snails? I don't really want to spend a lot of money on this area, since it's not really used for anything (but is visible from the seating area in the back yard.). I really just want it too look green, but not weedy.

We have a similar situation at the side of our house. Planted there is a mock orange that gives WONDERFUL fragrance in the summer. It doesn't mind the shade and seems fairly tolerant of the few snails.

Just need to figure out what to put at its feet now.

Hi Chris,
If you are still looking for suggestions, perhaps perennial Lobelia Cardinalis and Astilbe would be of interest. I have both planted in a boggy area at the base of my downspout and they are thriving.
Ann

Yes, Lobelia Cardinalis would LOVE that spot, as would a lot of Hosta, Ferns, Spiderwort, wild ginger, Iris, Coral Bells, Brunnera, Trilliums, Jack in the Pulpits, Chelone, the domestic Loosetrifes, all the Solomon's Seals, all the Pulmonarias and Violets tend to like a moist soil as well.

Have fun with it, you can turn that dirt/weed alleyway into a little paradise and you can soften the look of those patio stones that are protecting your foundation by growing a groundcover or creeping plant/herb between and around them so that they gradually grow overtop wtihout losing the practicality of the stones.

Barb/knottyceltic

ligularia also like bog type soil

I'm 100% behind Vetiverts' idea. Dig out some of that mossy and compacted dirt, and lay a nice bed of gravel.
While your at it, do a thorough job and bury the downspout extentions, which arent very attractive. Contain it all with some edgeing for a tidy look, and lay those flat patio stones for ease of walking. Problem solved forever.
(well, for a long time anyway) A Hydrangea would disguise the entry, and they love the east side of any bldg.

If you want some greenery next to the foundation, set large empty pots upside down to prevent the gravel from covering the soil, and then reverse and cut out the bottom in the Spring, for ease of planting fern, hosta and columbines. All three will do better for having the gravel mulch. I have columbines all over in a gravel path from a walkway to patio, and all self seeded.

But, whatever you decide, you certainly will need a way to get thru the area, so you really should recycle those patio blocks. Going green is all the rage now, I hear. Ive done it all my life, and people just called me 'cheap'.
Anything you do will look better than that plantain and other weedy stuff, right? You really need to keep a walkway thru for firefighters, if for no other reason.

Do those huge arborvitae belong to your neighbor? My neighbor on the East side planted a short row of the same, which grows within 6 ft of my home, and it turned the vinyl siding green! Now I have to have that East wall pressure washed every couple of years. What a bummer.

Good luck with your project. Let us know what you decide.
Pondy

oh, forgot to add, for the gravel base, you are so much better off using a compactable base, like what is called 'driveway' base in WI or stone dust in others. The bits of gravel are sharp and angular, rather than round and slippery like pea gravel or others like that. Pondy

Forget-Me-Nots!

Bright blue colored flowers, early spring to about July - longer if watering- So easy to grow even from seed -forms a nice gorund cover -
For shrubs - look at Clethera Summersweet 'Ruby Spice'
Very sweet fragrance in July/Augst

Whatever you put in that area you should get rid of all the grass & weeds first.

and fiddlejhead ferns!

if you are still looking for ideas. when you described the are, and before i looked at the picture, i thought, sounds like a place for growing gravel. make it a passage way with storage. if the shrub at the rear of the phote is providing screening for you, then plant a new shrub across the front of the passage, with space between it and the house to access the area.

diggerb