What else...

Rainfall. How much over the whole of the year, and when in the year.

How much mist?

How high are you above sea level? Does your property face the sun (South, for you) or are you shaded by hills, buildings, whatever, and don't see the sun until later in the day? Does the frost take it's time about melting, even when it's sunny?

When is your first/last frost of significance (the one that terminates the tomatoes or mushies the young bean plants)?

Is your soil acid, or alkaline or neutral? 6,5,4 is tending acid. 8,9 is tending alkaline. 6.5-7.5 is around the neutral range. You can buy a home test kit from your garden centre or farmers' supply depot.

With maples and cherries, I'd guess at moderately acid - especially if you have pines and native rhododendrons in your woods/bush.

How deep is the topsoil, and does it dry out over the summer? Do you have boggy patches in the woods, or is it mostly well-drained after the heavy rains?

How dense are the roots in the area where you might want to have planting pockets for treasures?

And what sort of shade??? Do the trees cast shadows sprinkled with patches of light on a sunny day? (Dappled light.) Or does it look as gloomy as a winter day when you go in on a summer's day? (Dense shade)

Dry shade is the sort of thing you get on the north side of the house under the eaves. Rarely gets natural moisture. A useful zone for drying out bulbs over summer, but can be a gardening challenge.

Hope that's helped a bit.

Well it hasn't really HELPED ...... in that you asked mostly questions and not answers but my rainfall is adequate ????? Whatever that means.... I'm on the east coast.... don't ask me in inches or anything...... I know my soil is acid just by what survives there.... it may not be immensely or frightenly so though..... as it says on my name I'm zone 6 7 so that means minimum and I mean minimum 10 degrees a year..... NOt sure about the mist sometimes alot sometimes none.... wer'er n New jersey here... there's a sign upon entering the state..... don't like the weather ????/ Wait five minutes... !!
I think my soil is variable wet in some places dry in some but drier than wetter.... not swampy.... also I guess the roots are dense I have nothing to compare it to.... i.e. I haven't been in your woodland garden but..... Ihear maples are fairly hard to work with and if that's true I agree..... the roots are shallow..... I think .... but that's what I'm asking is there any way to tell.... what will grow based on the tree forest type ????? I would think any info like that would pretty much tell you what you need since forests with certain kind of trees are generally similar.... i.e. northern harwoods are generally simlilar etc.

A mostly deciduous woodland canopy will provide dappled shade. Plants at the woodland edge will receive more sun at parts of the day and those closest to larger trees will receive less.

As to other conditions, it is impossible to determine wihtout seeing the specific site and testing the soil. You should get some sense of the moisture content by the native plants that grow there. In general, the closer you are to the root system of large, mature trees, the drier the soil will be - the tree's more aggressive root systems will absorb the lion's share of available soil moisture before the smaller plants and the denser the canopy the less likely natural rainfall will be able to penetrate. Soil composition will factor in as well - sandy loam will drain faster and retain less moisture than heavy clay soils.

If your woodland property abuts a natural woodland, take a walk through it at different times of the year to get both a sense of light conditions and soil moisture levels.

In short, there is no easy answer to your questions - it all depends on conditions specific to your locale and these can vary significantly in just a matter of a few feet.