Don’t know if it’ll work in your climate but in mine Iris foetidissima remains evergreen and has orange berries in winter .... until they drop and seed all over. Nothing much to see in winter but Meconopsis cambrica can cope with shade. It’s a short lived perennial but is a hearty self seeder.

Check out the suggestions in this KC landscaping article:

https://www.gohplg.com/colorful-perennials-for-your-kansas-city-shade-garden/#:~:text=Colorful%20Perennials%20for%20Your%20Kansas%20City%20Shade%20Garden,...%206%20Coral%20Bells%20%E2%80%93%20Fire%20Alarm.

A picture of the area in question that is your dining view would be helpful. How that area relates to the rest of the house, deck and yard is even more helpful. Maybe plants are not the solution. Perhaps thinking of this space as a painting or sculpture and using other non-living materials to create a tableau that improves the view (even in winter) makes more sense.

Christopher it's such an ugly area at the moment, I'm hesitant to post pics. I have been working my way to get to a point to be able to do something with this area. Old fence had to be removed among other things. The deck is 20X30 and the current steps with a landing need to go. Who ever built this house did some bad planning. The septic tanks are in the area also. Seriously who wants to look out the kitchen windows at the septic tank? Not looking for fancy, just something pleasant or at least something that's not ugly to look at. I will try to get a few pics taken from the yard for a better perspective , but here is one from the kitchen table area. The steps and landing are going.

Well as a start, that kind of building shade is not deep deep dark shadows shade. There will be a lot of reflected light in there which will increase the variety and health of the plants you can grow. I just don't think rhododendron in Kansas is one of them. They need acid soil.

Once the stairs are removed (relocated?) a standard foundation bed and planting of Kansas appropriate shade tolerant plants should do the trick.

The septic tank adds another dimension to a good solution. You have to maintain access to it for pumping. I covered mine with landscape fabric and pea gravel and......

Many perennials will grow in heavy shade in your area. You'll need to consider moisture level as well as the shade. Pulmonaria, wild ginger, sweet woodruff, lamium and Epimedium do well in my dry shade areas, in addition to hostas. I have hostas, ferns, goatsbeard, turtlehead and hydrangea in the moist shade area (under/around a deck). I've also had good luck with tree peony in shade. My only shade perennial with winter interest is Hellebore (Lenten rose). It flowers well before anything else and keeps its leaves most of the year. The Hellebore had flower buds and green leaves on March 30 this year in my central Iowa garden. If your soil ph allows, there are azaleas and rhododendrons that can take the cold (Northern Lights varieties IIRC).

I agree with Christopher that your area probably has more light than you realize.

Missouri Botanic Garden has a lot of good information on their website. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden put out a book called The Shady Border that really explains the different types of shadeand recommends plants to suit the shade and the moisture level, and not just for NYC area.

thanks everyone, interesting that you see it as having a lot of light, from where the steps are now to the house never gets sun. If you stood in the corner where deck meets house and looked straight out on the diagonal you would be facing north, while the deck roof is only one story our house is a two story and the second story hangs over the first, even so that corner stays damp, tho once I add dirt and make a raised bed, things may change. Now to make a decision on where the steps are going so I can rip out the old and get a truer pic of the space. Thought I had that figured out but second guessing as always.

Geranium macrorrhizum is the plant for deep shade--semi-evergreen in your zone, highly deer resistant, no care groundcover than blooms in spring. Very easy to keep under control and isn't a rampant grower anyhow.

Lack of direct sun does not mean heavy shade :-) Most north facing planting areas, unless completely covered by an overhang or other structure, receive quite a lot of bright, indirect light. And in midsummer when the sun is almost directly overhead, that indirect light becomes very close to be being direct. The north side of my 2 story home gets quite a lot of sun in summer.......and I am located considerably farther north than you!

I don't think you will have any difficulties with any shade or partial shade loving plant in that location

I guess I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that no sun doesn't mean heavy shade. If you face north on the diagonal that means the house blocks all sun from the east and south and the deck blocks it from the west. Part of my problem could

be that this area could've been a great secret garden space if the builder had considered where he put things, the septic, the A/c, the electric meter! Why didn't he put that stuff in one of the side yards??? It's definitely not a place you want to hang out, but I'd like it to be a place you don't mind passing thru. Tried to get a few more pics, my phone decided after a few pics that it was too cold for pics. Here's what I have.

Sorry didn't mean for that to wind up in the middle of the print, can't figure out how to delete it.

The plants that will grow in your house shadow are not relevant at this point. What you need is a landscape PLAN for this space. The placement of the utilities and septic may not be in your preferred location, but there is nothing unusual about it. It's not a big deal.

You need to thoroughly analyze the actual required use, human traffic patterns and then your wants for this space to make a good plan. I have a feeling dogs may be involved. What follows is a shot across the prairie.

Build a decorative fence/pen/screen around the utilities and AC.

If there is not a gate in the left side fence attached to the house, Put a gate in it.

Move the deck stairs to the front of the deck. Same side they are on now.

Make a defined path from the gate in the fence to the deck stairs.

The entire space in the corner made by the house and deck, from the new utility pen to the moved deck stairs and bordered by the path is now one large flower bed.

Plant it.

Now what to do about the septic tank hat in the lawn.?

Thanks for your thoughts Christopher. I am planning can't you tell???lol You are correct dogs are involved. The fence is all about the dogs! The fenced in area is, it's a dog yard. Once the stairs are ripped off I may get a better pic in my head. I want easy to mow around beds that don't take a tremendous amount of up keep, it's a challenge to keep up with front sunny perennials, that being said I replaced the fence because I needed more space for more perennials and the old fence was like the septic cover, I hated it! Now I was planning on most of my new perennials going on the outside of the fence. I at one point THOUGHT I knew where I wanted my new stairs

Then I got to thinking I would do a step down landing with stairs going to both sides of the yard at the end of the deck. Since we moved in here I always thought one day I would have a weeping lace J.Maple right out those kitchen windows, but now that I am ready to do something, I do the research and find it's not a suitable location. Same thing happened with my idea to plant Rhodies and azaleas under my Pines. Now my head is spinning. Want to be ready for Spring.

We don't really use the deck, started thinking about enclosing it or part of it as a sun porch, which I would use, I think. Also thought about removing the railings. Thinking I should make that decision before I get too busy planting.

I'm going to get my soil tested and ask the place where I will be getting my dirt from if they can make an acidic blend. They do custom mixes, I just don't know if they do "that" custom. I played on garden puzzle today. They don't have a lot of plants to choose from but enough to get the idea.

or mostly just hydrangeas

Yes coral bells clematis some pale roses there r lots that grow in

started on new stairs today

Good to see your creative juices are flowing. I see a traffic flow developing. Go with the flow.

Good to see your creative juices are flowing. I see a traffic flow developing. Go with the flow.

well the old steps are gone and I spent the day yesterday taking pics of the sunlight in the area. I know it will change thru the seasons. May not get around to planting much of anything in this area this year.

8:30a.m.

1:30p.m.

3:30p.m.

6p.m.

I live in a northern suburb of Kansas City. I have to do some landscaping necessitated by renovations. My house faces north so the front needs some shade tolerant plants. I worked with a native plant specialist & some of his suggestions:

Prairie alumroot (similar to coralbells mentioned above)

Columbine

Christmas fern

Hydrangeas

for the areas that will get more sun:

Asters

Shrubby St Johns Wort

Bee Balm

Milkweed

Sedges

Here is a link to a shady garden design. https://grownative.org/learn/native-landscape-plans/shady-haven/

There is a ton of info on the Grow Native site.

Some trees that are good for the area: Redbuds/ River Birch/ Serviceberry

I have had good luck with asters/columbine/milkweed in the past (before construction) the rest are new to me.

Good Luck!

Forgot to mention. I would like some evergreen bushes out front but for shady areas the choices are limited. Right now I am leaning toward Inkberry Holly, the main downside being that they can get leggy.

Oakleaf hydrangeas have height and winter interest. If your area really is completely shaded, also consider Annabelle hydrangeas—they are MO natives and will bloom (white/chartreuse) in complete shade. Good luck and don’t skimp on soil prep!

in the process of building a cinderblock retaining wall so I can bring raised garden bed soil and compost. The soil that is here is actually surprisingly impressive black and crumbly. Super easy to dig in.