One for the front of the border would be Burning Hearts bleeding heart - blooms for a really long time - has kind of blue grey foliage and bright red hearts. Also, the fancy leaved coral bells like Georgia Peach or Berrie Smoothie or even the old fashioned coral bell - heuchera sanginea with the plain leaves but bright red flowers, bee balm and beard tongue for the hummingbirds and cranesbill Rozanne will bloom till frost.

I like ligularias but they tend to be pretty big. Also look at Pulmonaria and Polemonium. I got a nice pulmonaria with lance-shaped leaves a couple of years ago and it looks really nice.

Oh, and I totally agree about coral bells. You really can't have too many.

I have both the blue and the white polemoniums. The blue is well-behaved while the white has world-domination issues. Stay away from it!

My pulmonaria is really low-growing. It's a nice groundcover with interesting foliage but not a lot for colour.

How about bergenia? They are evergreen, flower very early in spring, but large leaves stay deep green and turn red/maroon/bronze in fall.

Another plant I love is Yellow Wax Bells (Kirengeshoma palmate) - blooms late into fall (photo above).

And you can't go wrong with brunnera - so many different ones, even if flowers are gone early, the leaves stand out from shadier location.

Rina

SCG, I love part-shade, shade areas - they allow plants with many more interesting colours and textures than full sun areas!

Are you looking for perennials, shrubs, or just about anything? Restrictions on size at all?

I think that your best bet will be to go with something with great foliage colours. Hostas will be great. I also love my golden bleeding heart - the golden foliage is wonderful and the shocking pink flowers contrast brilliantly with the foliage. If you are looking for a shrub, variegated dogwood has lovely foliage and would look sharp against other shrubs/perennials with dark red foliage. Hardy geraniums do come in some very lovely and colourful shades with their long blooming flowers. That would be very lovely indeed.

There are lots of choices! :-)

Yes, some pulmonarias are amazing!

Love that pulmonaria twrosz! Do you know which one it is? I have several, but that one looks different.
They are one of my favourite shade perennials. They are so well behaved and nothing seems to bother them.

Thanks all it is really hard around here is I have to order things in. The greenhouses have so little in stock....

Shilla - I just got the dwarf monarda 'petite wonder' and it is a amazing how it attracts butterflies. I was worried that it may not get enough sunshine. I like the other suggestions too.

North, I was eyeing up a ligularia yesterday 'little rocket' but came away with heuchera 'caramel' and tiarella 'candy striper'. I am going to look into getting some pulmonia they do look great. Now that I look I realize I was gifted some. She just said it was lungwort. I believe it might be 'Victorian Brooch'

Marcia, yes I SP'd my polemonium this spring. It, too, had world domination in mind and had powdery mildew so bad it looked like someone put white icing sugar on it.

Rina some great ideas I really like the brunnera and yellow bells

Ostrich I am looking for anything, particularly things that bloom later. Everything I have blooms early and while I do have some interesting foliage plants I would like to add a bit more color from mid summer on. The bed they are going into is approximately 8 ft wide by 40 ft long. (see pic at end). It has a bench on the top right by the log then is a pretty steep bank down to the rock border. The pic was taken at 10:30 am yesterday the sun starts at the log at about 9 am and reaches the rocks after lunch, depending on time of year, of course.

Yeah I am addicted to hostas as well, which is part of the problem. I can't afford or am too cheap to buy them in large pots so either get them in small containers or as roots. Thus my impatience for them to reach maturity leaves the garden looking bare. My 'Sum and Substance' is a prime example I planted it in a spot to give it the 5-6ft radius it may need but couldn't handle this tiny little plant in a wide open spot, so I planted around it lol.

twrosz that is a great looking plant! I am sure I would have one if I had seen it locally!!

If needed I can get a pic that has less contrast so you can make everything out later today.

Thanks again all.

SCG

FWIW This bed gets more sun till mid summer. Parts in spring/mid summer get about 3-4 hours of both morning and evening sun

Thanks all it is really hard around here is I have to order things in. The greenhouses have so little in stock....

Shilla - I just got the dwarf monarda 'petite wonder' and it is a amazing how it attracts butterflies. I was worried that it may not get enough sunshine. I like the other suggestions too.

North, I was eyeing up a ligularia yesterday 'little rocket' but came away with heuchera 'caramel' and tiarella 'candy striper'. I am going to look into getting some pulmonia they do look great. Now that I look I realize I was gifted some. She just said it was lungwort. I believe it might be 'Victorian Brooch'

Marcia, yes I SP'd my polemonium this spring. It, too, had world domination in mind and had powdery mildew so bad it looked like someone put white icing sugar on it.

Rina some great ideas I really like the brunnera and yellow bells

Ostrich I am looking for anything, particularly things that bloom later. Everything I have blooms early and while I do have some interesting foliage plants I would like to add a bit more color from mid summer on. The bed they are going into is approximately 8 ft wide by 40 ft long. (see pic at end). It has a bench on the top right by the log then is a pretty steep bank down to the rock border. The pic was taken at 10:30 am yesterday the sun starts at the log at about 9 am and reaches the rocks after lunch, depending on time of year, of course.

Yeah I am addicted to hostas as well, which is part of the problem. I can't afford or am too cheap to buy them in large pots so either get them in small containers or as roots. Thus my impatience for them to reach maturity leaves the garden looking bare. My 'Sum and Substance' is a prime example I planted it in a spot to give it the 5-6ft radius it may need but couldn't handle this tiny little plant in a wide open spot, so I planted around it lol.

twrosz that is a great looking plant! I am sure I would have one if I had seen it locally!!

If needed I can get a pic that has less contrast so you can make everything out later today.

Thanks again all.

SCG

FWIW This bed gets more sun till mid summer. Parts in spring/mid summer get about 3-4 hours of both morning and evening sun

SCG, one thing you can do while waiting for a perennial to reach its full potential is to plant annuals around it. If you plant other perennials, it will eventually get way too crowded. Ask me... LOL

lol marciaz3, problem is finding an annual that will grow. I have tried coleus, impatiens, lobelia, etc and they all just sort of sit there doing nothing....The coleus I planted this year is about twice the size since planting in May, so they are now about 3" tall.

Also sorta why I am letting the lamium go wild. Less impact on my wallet.

SCG

north53, I believe it to be pulmonaria longifolia, which is a selection of the species. I've had it for a very long time, though so nearly had lost the plant after moving from the farm. Through neglect it dwindled to almost nothing in dry infertile soil tucked amongst and crowded out by other plants. Last spring, after I had even forgotten about the plant, I was surprised to see a tiny sprig appear and that's when it finally received proper attention and was moved to a prime location with deeply prepared soil, it's now rather spectacular looking.

Ligularia like Othello and The Rocket are good choices for a later blooming plant; my Rocket is just blooming now and Othello will start soon. They do need lots of moisture. Mine never get to be as large as they could be being in a bed with lots of tree roots but they do ok as long as I keep them well watered. They are both a common variety. The Gold Heart bleeding heart mentioned is a great plant for the shade; the color really brightens up a shady spot. Martagon lilies are a lovely flowering plant for part shade/ dappled shade. And I love pulmonaria as well; they will even do well in dry shade.

Thanks Debbiecz3, this garden has lots of mulch and I rarely have to water it. I will take your advice and look at gold bleeding heart.

I am half inclined to order 25-30 hosta's to add to this garden but beyond texture and foliage I do like a hint of color.

Love the ideas all and the more pics the merrier!!

SCG

My pulmonaria is the same shape as Terry's but has dots instead of large white areas. Yours is especially nice BTW Terry!

I also recommend Primula cortusoides for shade. It's a small plant and blooms really early, but the foliage is attractive all summer. It self-seeds but not aggressively.

Are you able to grow heucheras? That is what I would have in my shade garden if they grew better here but they struggle or succumb. There are some lovely colors.

Check out Lava Lamp! Gorgeous.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heucheras

Buttered Rum is also nice.

OMG Luckygal those are stunning. Yes, they do well here. Want to trade?

SCG