Limiting myself to perennials (no shrubs or trees). These three are natives also. I picked them because they aren't spring ephemerals (which can be beautiful, but last so briefly and then there's a bare spot):

Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff)
Geranium macrorrhizum (bigroot geranium)
Polemonium caeruleum (jacob's ladder)

Here are a few others not listed that I'm trying in my shade garden:
Asarum canadense - Wild Ginger
Uvularia grandiflora - Bellwort
Mitella diphylla - Bishop´s Cap
Mertensia virginica - Virginia Bluebells
trout lily
hosta--sieboldiana elegans, abiqua drinking gourd
alchemilla mollis
astilbe-specifically ostrich plume, peach blossom
ferns--maidenhair, ostrich
bugbane
digitalis lutea

For shade perennials - hosta, astilbe, and trollius.

(I do have more growing I could pick from though, ostrich ferns, lily of the valley, columbine, and bleeding hearts.)

It is hard to pick a favorite, but Cimicifuga Racemosa, Ligularia "The Rocket", and all the various hostas would be right up there near the top.

Of course, I love the bleeding hearts, corydalis, spiderwort, etc. as well as all of the beautiful wild woodland flowers, too!

Linda

ok-if I had to plan an entire garden with only these plants

perennials-
coral bells (so many great foliage colors these days)
geranium 'rozanne'
varigated woodland phlox-nice flowers in the spring-nice foliage all summer long

annuals-
impatians
coleus
persian shield

shrubs-
anabelle hydrangea
varigated dogwood
euonymus
boxwood
dwarf alberta spruce

Hosta, Hosta, and Hosta. I don't have any shade to speak of, so I can't experiment.

Only 3? Hosta, Astilbie, & Japanese painted fern would be at the very top of my must have list but it would be difficult to eliminate many of the others already mentioned.

Hosta, Heuchera and Japanese Painted Fern

I have to second Geranium macrorrhizum a great, underused groundcover for the toughest spots. It's not a native though (european origin). Geranium maculatum is the native.

Variegated Solomon's Seal. Elegant and tough.

Japanese Roof Iris, Iris tectorum. A much larger version of the better known Iris cristata. Exquisite flowers and bold arching foliage.

runners up. Waxbells, monkshood, bugbane,

Asarum canadense - Wild Ginger

Pachysandra terminalis

Hosta

Great posting! I am going to do some research on some of the perennials that have been listed. I am always looking for some great shade perennials to add to my garden.

I guess at this point my 2 favorite shade perennials are:
Hosta (just because they have been growing well in my new garden) and a few types of ferns that I have yet to identify.

Thanks for this posting!

Only 3 is hard!

hakonechloa macra (japanese forest grass)
kirengeshoma palmata (yellow waxbells)
geranium phaeum

Although many have said it before-
Hosta are #1 for me for shade- the more the merrier!
Then I think Dicentra Eximina - Fernleaf Bleeding heart- as it blooms off and on throughout the spring and summer- and the foliage is a lush, mounding, verdant green with a finely cut delicate texture.
Then lastly- ferns- many shapes sizes colors and textures to choose from-
Yep- if 3 it has to be- those are them! I think I could live with a shaded forest of those 3- although I sure would miss the soloman's seal....

Although.... Just imagine a shaded glen of hakonechloa macra, all tousled and flowing like a great golden river... You can almost hear the water rushing....

Oh man- then there is the absolutely HUGE Petasites japonicus var. giganteus / Japanese Butterbur I saw growing tall and proud in a garden close to Stillwater this spring...

I had better quit while I can!

Here is a link that might be useful: one image of a Japanese Butterbur