I have a shade garden in front, where much of the planted area gets no sun at all, not ever. Some plants I've put in, some came with the house. Some the deer like, others are slug favorites, although I can deal with both of those.
I've managed to kill irises, pansies, four o'clocks, and lilies of the valley there. In spring, my daffodils do great, and the snowdrops are not plentiful but they're there. I have no flowering plants in summer.
The ones that do best in this deep shade are
- Hosta, enjoyed by slugs a lot. A ring of sand at the base of each plant stops them cold. Mt hostas come back every year and all I ever do for them is the sand. Some years the deer eat them when they're just coming up, but most years they leave them alone.
- Zebra Grass, an ornamental which reaches about 4 feet high in shade. Thrives on zero care once I planted it. I cut it back to about 6 inches in spring. Insects and deer ignore it.
- Ferns die back if there's drought, but they return without help the next year. They're not naturalizing like I'd hoped, though.
My master plan is to add more ferns until I have achieved ground cover, but that seems unlikely to actually happen.
In a month or so, there's a big sale of plants native to the area. I plan to see what they recommend as easy-care and suitable for hard clay soil and shade.
Maryn, not much of a garden person