A couple of possibilities.

First, the plants providing shade in the shade garden. Are they things that leaf out early? Have they grown large enough at this point that they are providing too much shade very early in the year?

Second, "Quite a stand".... How dense are they? Try spreading them out more, and see if that might help.

I would try moving patches here and there, in different areas of the shade garden, and see if this helps. You may not find out if it works til next year. But you might be able to pinpoint the problem by seeing which patches flower and which don't.

Good luck.

You might be interested in seeing bluebells in their natural habitat. These are blooming in my wood in Southern England now. The effect is like seeing a distant blue lake through the trees. The plant in the foreground is Allium ursinum and the yellow specks are lesser celandines, Ranunculus ficaria.

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Ah.... Thanks, flora_uk. Beautiful! That's why we try to grow them here. Mine are blooming well, even in the middle of the paths, and I'll move them out when they finish.

Colder winter temps, different soils, different environments.... They're sometimes a little trickier here. Thanks for the pic of what they look like where they are happiest!! Absolutely gorgeous....

Lovely, Flora. I really need to try these. Do you have anything that comes up when they are finished blooming?

Not really - (by the way these are wild, I have nothing to do with their being there.) The whole point about bluebells and the wild garlic in the foreground is that they are spring ephemerals and flower before the canopy closes over. After that it is too dark for most plants other than mosses and ferns.