Dark Shade: Hosta’s, bergenia, ferns, pulmonaria, Ligularia, Japanese painted ferns, heart leaf brunnera, rose turtlehead (chelone-this will take dense shade and very acidic soil if kept moist), cimicifuga ramose (bugbane-will take quite dense shade and very acidic soil. It is very useful in soggy areas), barrenwort, sweet woodruff (quite invasive but perfect where nothing else will grow.)
Medium shade: Astilbe, goatsbeard (will tolerate half sun to dense shade) northern lights azalea series, columbine, ladies mantle, gas plant (dictamus albus) coral bells, lamium (but likes moisture), for-get-me-nots, solomon’s seal, foam flower,
Light or Dappled Shade: Monkshood, husker red penstemon, ladies mantle, every type of day lily but there are often smaller and less blooms. Great success with Stella and her offspring in the light shade, graybeard grass (spodiopogon sibiricus)(lovely and big), tradescantia.
Ground cover: Japanese spurge (pachysandra), and ajuga
Perennials: Jacob’s ladder, primroses, wild ginger, bleeding heart, and columbine
Climbing: Dutchman’s pipe and climbing hydrangea
For colour a few annual in pots: fibrous begonias and impatiens