I am thinking of turning a side yard into a kid's play area/shade garden. We are new to this house and the ground in this side yard is now pretty much bare--we cleared out some ivy, which I know will present an ongoing battle.

This area is pretty much complete shade and not damp. The soil is mostly clay.

My idea is to cover the area with pea gravel for play purposes, place a sand box and in the summer a kids pool in the area. I'd like to add plants to soften and pretty-up the space.

What plants would you suggest? I do not want any invasives and give bonus points for natives. Bonus points also for sweet smelling plants or pretty flowers. I prefer white, blue, pink and lavendar for flowers.

I was thinking of sweet woodriff, bluebells, virginia creeper vine (on a trellis or two), violas, astilbes or bleeding hearts and perhaps a bush of some kind--in the 4 to 6 feet high and 3 to 4 feet wide range?

Thanks so much for any suggestions!

Shade areas are tough to grow flowers in. Several of the things you mention likely go dormant in the summer (not a bad idea if kids are more apt to run around in the summer). Good native perennials include ferns which tend to be very forgiving. Solomon's seal is nice but it has berries if it flowers and you may not want something that tempts.

Tough native shrubs include Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica) and Clethra. They both sucker a bit and so are more likely to recover from any "accidents". Viburnums and Aronia are also good candidates for that reason.

I have to repeat that depending on how much shade you have, you may not get as many flowers as you'd like on these.

Hope that helps! Good luck.