My favorite, Helleborus, they are shade loving and evergreen with lovely flowers!

Ferns of coarse will do well in full shade.

I think that the astible is an excellent choice and will add some great color. The pansies are good too because of the cold where you are. Though, I would consider primrose because they are both cold hardy and do well in shade. (and are prennial)

A good annual for me around here for the shade is impatiens but they will turn to mush after a frost so probably not very good for you.

I personally would ditch the boxwood idea and go with white azaleas. They really will brighten the area up and provide some green in the winter. I got my azaleas at home depot for $5 each before they went on sale then $2.50 in the late fall!

Mountain laurel is also a beautiful evergreen and it is a native to North America. Though it is more expensive and you will need to search harder to find it. You also will need the dwarf variety.

Good luck!

Annette

Hostas!!

My shade gardens are my favorites. Shade gardening forced me to think about leaves rather than flowers. By designing around leaves, you end up with a garden that looks good all the time. I'm in zone 4 or 5 in Michigan, so I don't know what does well in Utah. Some of my favorites are:

Astilbe
ferns, especially Japanese painted ferns
Varigated Solomon's Seal
Heucheras
Tiarellas
Lamium
Brunnera
Ligularia 'the rocket'
Cimicifuga racemosa 'Brunette'

I don't have hostas because the deer eat them. They haven't bothered the plants I listed above.

This has been very helpful...Can someone give me some ideas about what to plant that will have something blooming each of the summer months?

Shade gardening is more about texture and leaf color than about blooms. For example, there are many hostas of different heights and leaf colors--some are huge, some small, some are accented with white, some yellow and some, especially when planted next yellow or, better, pink, look blue.

Bleeding heart has finely cut leaves, a beautiful arching form and gets pink or white "hearts" in the spring, but will die back during the summer.

For similar cut of leaf in the late summer, cimicifuga is beautiful and is almost black in color, so shows up well against chartruese. Its blooms are feather-like (like grass heads).

Ladies Mantle also has beautifully shaped leaves, gets sprays of chartruese "flowers" in late spring (which are wonderful in bouquets) and, in summer, its leaves hold the dew or rain to provide sparkle.

One of my favorites is Meadow Rue. Has blue-green leaves of a pretty shape, grows a tall stalk topped by sprays of tiny pink flowers that looks like they are floating in the air (needs dappled shade).

Don't forget lamium for ground cover! Its varigated silver leaves really light up a shady spot and gets pink or purple blooms in early summer. (This is when everyone stops by to ask if they can have some).

Goat's Beard is great for its great plumes of white in the early summer, and will sometimes bloom again in fall if cut back after blooming.

Variegated Jacob's Ladder is wonderful. Look at any of the "worts" (lungwort, spiderwort, etc)--they are all wonderful shade plants and bloom.