Depending on the amount of shade and the size of the bed, Turk's Cap. Salad burnet, which makes a mound about one foot square, liked living under the roof eaves on the north side of the house.

Now if you have any suggestions for DRY shade that I refuse to water, that would be Great!

It's about 6'X10' on the north side of the house. Gets a little evening sun.
I'm sure it's going to take lots of watering.

Shrimp plant does well in dry shade. It has to have SOME water, but not much. It'll take some sun too and in San Antonio during a mild winter it blooms all the way through.

Columbine and canna can get awfully ragged in late summer without regular watering.

I've got a side yard that gets little light, too little for asparagus fern. Nandina and Japanese auralia do very well there. I may have watered them twice last summer. Something got into the soil that kills ivy, so I've been using Blue Shade for a ground cover. It dies back in winter, but is now coming back strong. An exceptionally tough plant, but it blooms only after it rains or is watered. I'm replacing the asparagus fern with ardesia, which should do well there.

Candle tree, oxalis and I second Turk's Cap.

For the shade, what would you recommend as a spreading, preferably vining, plant, for the ground? I have a shade garden that is coming along very nicely, with nice pinks and yellows right now, but while I'm waiting for my bulbs to bloom its looking a bit bare. I have some sage,lavender, and rosemary in the more sunny places of the spot, but I would really like something besides my one fern. Right now its like a mulch garden.

Pasadena, I have the perfect plant for you, variegated algerian ivy! It has done excpetionally well in my shade bed. It's evergreen, beautiful leaves, red stems, no insect problems, heat and cold tolerant.

is candle tree happy in shade? How big does it get?

c

don't forget Persian Shield! I can make it with little water. If you've never seen it do an image search. I love it!

c

This morning I noticed a Japanese Aralia/fatsia japonica in the neighborhood that seems to do well. I love the way it looks.
Anybody grow this?

cynthianovak, I have grown Persian Shield and loved it.

I have Turks Cap in the back yard where it gets some sun, just didn't think to put it in the front bed.

Over the years I've tried a lot of things there and nothing did well except liriope, boxwood and some kind of vines.
I pretty much gave up on the area and wanted to make it a sitting area, but DH wants plants there.

Hellebore. Makes a handsome mound and is evergreen.

Pasadena,
Another suggestion for a ground cover that blooms is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, aka Hardy Blue Plumbago.

I really like the Persian shield. I think the purple leaves will contrast stikingly with the yellows. Thank you for the suggestions. About hellebore. I've heard that it can be a bit delicate for my zone (8b or 9a) because of our rainy October's. Do you think its hardy enough for Houston? I think its very pretty and would like to try it if someone has tried it in Houston before.