There are sages that will grow in the shade. I have Salvia Greggii - the white variety growing in my shade garden. It is drought tolerant, but, of course would need watering what with the roof covering the bed.

Also, nandinas, the standard kind grow very well in full shade, and have wonderful color and berries.

My favorite shade plant is oakleaf hydrangea. The flowerheads are spectacular right now, and I leave them on all year for interest after they dry.

Beautyberry
Cedar sage
Columbine

Lots of stuff to choose from.

I vote for Southern Wood Fern and Turk's Cap! PJ

Hydrangeas love the north side - they would do very well there.

Salvia greggii will not bloom in that much shade. You might have better luck with S. coccinea, but watch out - it reseeds rampantly.

You can have a beautiful garden in the shade using the various shapes, textures and colors of foliage that shade plants offer. Japanese holly fern, southern wood fern, and autumn fern are just a few of the various ferns that thrive here. There's also Japanese painted fern, Korean rock fern, tassel fern, and so on. The holly fern and autumn fern will be evergreen. Aspidistra, aka cast iron plant, will tolerate full shade. Acanthus mollis, or bear's breeches, is a really cool looking plant with large leaves and very showy flowers on tall stalks. They get pretty big. Heucheras, Columbine, Brazos penstemon (P. tenuis), violets, oxalis, Soloman's seal, cardinal flower, and woodland phlox are some more flowers that will do in bright shade to part shade. Don't forget about Japanese Maples, either.

Sally

Sally - Don't tell my Salvia that it can't bloom in the shade, I'd like to enjoy the blooms. Mine is in full shade under a dozen large trees. I've used both red and white, but the white does much better.

I had a pink S. greggii that started out in sun, but over the years my oak and cypress trees grew enough to give it full shade. It quit blooming, except maybe a little during a mild winter when it had sun. I left it there a few years more because I didn't have another place for it. After having a tree removed in another part of my yard, I gained some sun, and was able to move it to that sunnier spot. It started blooming again.

I realize that plants don't read the tags or the books, but I don't want to suggest planting a plant that's typically a full sun plant in a full shade location. Your Salvia greggii is definately an exception. Maybe you need to take cuttings of it. There's a lot of people that would be thrilled to have a S. greggii that blooms in the shade, including me. You could have a goldmine there. By the way, wandering off subject a little bit, people might not realize that hummingbirds like the white S. greggii just as much as they like the red ones. Have you noticed that, Txgardenlady?

Sally

I have not had the usual herd of hummingbirds this year. Maybe I'm getting up too late? So I cannot give input for that. I did see a hummingbird moth making the rounds on the white salvia, late in the evening.(more my time of day)

Thanks everyone for the wonderful suggestions. Hard to decide with such a wide variety. You're the greatest

Jan

If you want green year round..the cast iron plant is wonderful for full shade.
Very tropical look.

I have a narrow bed outside our guest bedroom that is in full shade. Because of the window that is there, I will not plant anything that will become too tall and abstruct the view. I planted a row of cast iron plant along the back of the bed for the evergreen leaves. In front of the aspidistra, I planted peacock ginger. It does go dormant in the winter, but comes back every year and blooms all summer long. Most of these type gingers only grow a few inches tall. I also have the blue lobelias and a few ground orchids.. I have absolutely NO luck with greggii blooming in shade. My white one has been moved to a sunny spot and blooms all of the time. It did bloom in the shade, if one or two blooms every once in a while can be considered "blooming".

I'm fixing up an old flower-bed that was present when I moved into my house. It's located in the corner near our privacy fence and faces South. It gets sun during the Winter and early Spring, but a big tree blocks off most of the sun when it's leaves come in, which I presume will happen mid-April or so. I planted three azaleas in the back of the bed thinking they would be pretty well shaded during much of the year. Any suggestions for flowers I can put in front of them? I'm new to gardening. My main focus is my raised-bed veggie garden,but I want to do something nice and ornamental for my wife. Thanks, Pete