oki, according to Rodale's encyclopedia of herbs... the following can be grown in the shade. Hope this helps. aconite agrimony angelica beebalm betony black hellebore bloodroot blue cohosh cardamom castor bean catnip chamomile chervil comfrey coriander costmary dill fennel feverfew flax foxglove gentian germander ginger ginseng goldenseal hyssop lemon balm licorice lobelia lovage mayapple mint parsley pennyroyal pipsissewa plantain rosemary St. Johns-wort salad burnet sweet cicely sweet flag sweet woodruff tansy tarragon thyme tropical periwinkle valerian violet wintergreen wormwood

Sounds interesting but other factors do effect the readings - time of day for instance. For the cost of a roll of film and processing I took a day and from my upstairs bedroom window took photos every hour from sunup to sunset, in early June and again in August as the arc of the sun does change. I then made a sketch of my yard and location of planting beds and was able to calculate hours of sunlight on each section. Some areas got only midday light, others only early am or pm and actual amount of light was considerably less than I thought. But anything that helps pick plants appropriately is very appreciated!

I agree to use grasses and to cluster the Heuchera together. From pictures it looks like Zipper has orange and reds, so if you want to keep that trend, I'd populate the area with orange/red/yellow bulbs mixed around the grasses and then a medium sized Echinaceas that will bloom after the bulbs are done (you can do orange, yellow and or reds if you want to keep the same palette as the bulbs). You can use blue switch grass and yellow Echinacea. Or green grass with red and pink Echinacea.

Thanks to all. As for placement, I have several places, ranging from part sun to part shade to full shade, but I'm not looking at any deep shade areas right now. Some of my full shade areas are along the driveway and behave as a woodland edge, but the trees on the other side of the area make it dappled sun most of the day so it is shady. But, having some under canopy things right along that edge would be beautiful. Before this year shade=hosta. This summer the world of shade opened up and I'm so excited about all the options. I think I've also become very content with the "un-catalogue" appearance of plants. Before, the lusher and more prolific a plant/tree bloomed the better. Now I'm really seeing beauty in a tree that has more "zen" to it--branches reaching towards the light with fewer blooms, but with a beauty in the sparseness that adds shape, color, and variety to shadier areas. Add to that woodland edge plants here and there, like all those wonderful asters along the roadsides, and it gets even better. NH Babs, I have four Aralia 'Sun Kings' that I planted in August in strategic areas. I'm hoping that the way I've placed them creates both repetition and bright color. Can't wait for next year to see how they do! I'll be reporting on how tall they get given thymetodig's experiences in NH. One of mine is in full shade all day, meaning I don't think the sun hits it directly although it does good dappled shade. The other three are opposite each other with different sun exposure, so a comparison of those three will be enlightening. I'll respond more fully to all the suggestions later. Extremely busy couple of weeks right now!