I have an old lilac, three rose-of-sharons, and a weigela which get morning sun only; they are located on the east side of the house, which is two stories. [The lilac is actually planted less than 2' from the northeast corner of the house.] They do fine, flower enthusiastically, and aren't leggy -- though admittedly I've never been responsible for any of those shrubs in other locations. I also have a couple of 4-5' tall camellias which were planted by the previous owner about six years ago. One is a japonica and the other is either a sasanqua or a hybrid of some sort. Until last August, they had only two or three hours of sun in the middle of the day, being shaded in the morning by the single-story part of the house and from early afternoon by two silver maples (the largest of which was cut down then). The camellias were happy with that amount of direct sun; it remains to be seen how they will react to nearly full afternoon sun in the height of summer. [You're only one zone colder than I am, and IIRC some camellias are okay in 6b, though it would probably be better if they had some shelter from winter winds. My japonica is spring-flowering, and a late freeze can damage its new leaves; the sasanqua is fall-flowering and has never had spring leaf damage.]

I'm interested in this, I'm afraid to try anything else but I heard that plants meant for wet, boggy areas still can die at first as they need "Acclimated" to the conditions.. which confuses me to no end... I was focused more on trees or something for privacy, but I lost them due to rot?? The ones meant for swamps... Let me know how it goes.. amy

Oh, shade, now we're talking my experience. Crops grow slower, yields are smaller, less weeding & watering with mulch, and great spots for cool season veggies rather than corn, peppers, beans. We build the soil well with lots of organic matter including regular additions of used coffee grounds for mulch (though not near the lettuce greens or you'll be washing grounds out of the lettuce all the time. That corner would look lovely done up potager style with edging and ornamentally arranged vegetables & flowers. swiss chard, bright lights chives, garlic or regular pansies & calendula for color & salad additions greens, spinach & lettuce Corrine

We have a yard that has thick oak and maple trees that cover almost the entire yard to the east there are trees about the same size (50-75 ft.) so like you we have almost total shade we also have about 50% to 70% clay soil that is hard to grow much in. The types of plants that are the best for vertical appearance are some types of cattails or similar bog type plants here I've seen cattails grow natively in soil that is nearly entirely clay that is almost always a mud and sometimes boggy. I don't know if you had thought of trying to make a water garden here we have to dig at least 3' deep due to temps below 0 degrees F but we have floating water hyacinths on a pond during the summer and goldfish in the pond that were feeder fish that have become 6"-8" long from mosquito larvae and also provide the plants with excellent fertilizer. If you have stray cats they will get the slow fish and the others seem to survive the same applies to raccoons and oppossums. The water hyacinths can take over a pond but do very well in the shade. Elephant's Ears have to be dug up but seem to do well in our shade and climate too holly has also done very well as a perinial here. Otherwise between our temperature and soil you have tried everything we have best of luck to you.