No wet spots for Japanese maples. Maybe bearberry cotoneaster would work. Swedish cotoneaster ('Coral Beauty' etc.) mounds up if you don't want flat.

Thanks Embothrium. I have tried cotoneaster in this area. It grows "ok" but mostly heads out towards the sun, leaving the shade empty.

Lonicera nitida would work. This shrub honeysuckle can get taller than you need but is easily prunable. Happy in moist soils and part shade, it can drape nicely over a wall. 'Baggesen's Gold' is a Great Plants Pick but my personal preference is 'Lemon Beauty'. I have one growing on a steep, wet slope and it sprawls downhill attractively.

Thanks, Gardengal, I love the look of both of those! now to find a source.

Another question- do I need to amend the soil in this area for the honeysuckle to grow well there or does it do well in clay? This clay is tough to amend. It breaks up into big clods and sticks in them and compost disappears into it. It's hard to deal with soil on a bank without it all just ending up at the bottom, and this spot is hard to get to, so I've never done anything with the soil there other than mulching with some compost which didn't seem to help much.

Don't amend. Just dig a wide shallow planting hole and place the shrub with the rootball high, a bit above the existing soil level. Break up the clay you dug out and use it to fill the planting hole, mounding it up so that it comes to the top of the rootball. Use the compost as a mulch or topdressing if you wish.

Mine is also on a clay based slope and was planted using the method above. It is perfectly happy in that situation.

I bought some Lonicera Nitida Lemon Beauty from here last year:

http://www.forestfarm.com/product.php?id=2849

The plants I purchased locally were actually larger and are adapting much faster, but if you can't find any locally that's an option. I needed more than I could find locally to finish my hedge. I think I purchased locally at Home Depot, but it might have been one of the nurseries on the island.

I have quite a bit of Lonicera Nitida on my property, and it grows quite happily in heavy clay as well as in the salt spray at the edge of the Sound.

Thanks Gardengal and Pugetsoundgardener! This of course is music to my ears. What other plants will grow in these conditions?

Note that box honeysuckle - like many other broad-leaved evergreens in this area - froze back during the 1990 winter so if we see that kind of weather again during the time you are making use of this planting you may see damage.