In the front garden (mostly sun)
- Viburnum lantana (wayfaring tree) This blooms at the same time and looks wonderful with:
- Exochorda × macrantha 'The Bride' I have pruned this to one main trunk and grow it as a sort of miniature (3' or so) semi-weeping tree.
- Viburnum opulus (if I was planting this one again, I'd go for one of the varieties with better fall color but the fruit is beautiful in the snow in the winter.)
- Heptacodium Seven Son Flower tree - I grow it as a small tree but is often grown as a shrub. Butterflies and bees love it for its late flowers - September here....)
- Weigela florida variegata - this also grows, and flowers surprisingly, under the edge of the white pine canopy in the backyard garden
- several of the smaller weigelas, none of which have impressed me so far!
- Potentilla fruticosa 'Pink Beauty' , 'McKay's White', and 'Abbotswood White'. Pink Beauty is my favorite and is the backbone of my 'pretty in pink' driveway border.
- Hydrangeas - 'White Moth' (love it!!), 'White Dome', 'White Swan', 'Little Lamb', 'Bobo' (thanks to Rouge for showing us that one....), and a couple of others who are new and on probation :-)
- 'Carol Mackie' daphne
- 'Emerald Gaiety' euonymus
- Butterfly bush - the main one is a seed-grown blue-ish one, 'Nanho Blue', 'Black Knight'
- Physocarpus opulifolious 'Summer Wine' - wimpy pink flowers but dark foliage great with warm-colored (orange, red, peach) flowers
- lilacs - dwarf 'Palibin' (love it! Looks fabulous with a pink Clematis montana nearby.), 'Boomerang' (jury still out on this one) and a large no-name one - probably just a vulgaris
- roses - 'Paprika' and 'Peachy Cream' Oso Easy roses, 'Queen Elizabeth', and seed-grown Rosa chinensis minima known as Angel Rose - these are my favorites. They'd make a great small hedge. After a couple of years they get to be 30-36" tall or so. They flower most profusely in June but repeat all summer and then produce very small but very showy hips that the birds love!
- Mockorange - a big one whose name I forget and a small one added last year - not sure how that will perform yet.
Magnolias 'Randy' and 'Susan' (hard to resist trees with your names on them....!)
Serviceberry (can't remember which one and am too lazy to go look it up - it doesn't matter; they're all good....)
- Itea 'Little Henry'
- Holly - can't remember which one at the moment!

I'm probably forgetting a few things and then there are the wisterias that I grow as 'trees' - not a good thing to let run wild, even over there I'd think. I'll post this and then do a list for the shady backyard....

- Cercis canadensis 'Alba’ - I find the usual pink of redbuds a rather harsh color but love the ethereal look of the white ones. They just seem to float over the emerging spring garden. They look fabulous with the floaty blues of 'Jack Frost' brunnera flowers under them.
- Dogwoods - I only have trees, not shrubs, although I did add one shrub ('Prairie Fire') last summer to the 'golden path' area I'm making. I have both the early-flowering native Cornus florida and a later flowering Cornus kousa 'Milky Way' (which is not nearly as nice as my next-door-neighbour's 'China Girl' one!) and a beautiful young 'Wolf Eyes' variegated kousa.
- Chionanthus virginicus fringetree - wonderful white flowers and beautiful butter-yellow fall color.
- Japanese maples - several different named varities ('Full Moon' is my favorite) but the best one is a seedling from the neighbour's now-dead tree, plus we now have a couple of seedings from another neighbour's absolutely fabulous old tree (no idea what the name is) - I hope those tiny seedlings survive this horrible winter!
- Rhodotypos scandens - this is considered invasive in parts of the US but it's not trouble here as far as I know. I'm not sure if it is a problem in the UK or not. It grows well under the pines and looks lovely in flower in spring. It suckers so should be easy to propagate.
- Clethra alnifolia - not a named variety; would probably bloom better with more sun but grows under the pines (even though they are supposed to like moister soil); suckers; nice scent and nice yellow fall color.
- Kolkwitzia (beautybush)
- bridalwreath spirea
- Hydrangeas - 'Blushing Bride', 'White Dome', a couple of oakleaf (both big and small) that do so-so here, 'Tardiva', 'Bluebird',and a couple of others that I can't think of the names at the moment....! I don't like the mophead types but like the lacecap and paniculata types.
- Burning bush - can't remember which one!
- Fothergilla
- Aronia melanocarpa 'Autumn Magic' (barely survived several years in too much shade but I hope it'll survive after moving it into more light two years ago.
- saskatoon berry - too much shade for it but it survives and flowers
- hollies
- Weigela florida - remarkable that it will grow and flower under the pines with just a bit of morning sun slanting under the canopy!
- flowering raspberry - suckers like mad!
- serviceberry

I'm sure I've forgotten some things here too...

* Fothergilla

* Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)

* Tree peonies

* Hydrangea arborescens (aka Annabelle)

* Hydrangea quercifolia (oakleaf hydrangea)

Also, in terms of evergreens - yews perform beautifully in shadier locations, and some of the dwarf spruce look great too (I'm not well versed on evergreens, I just know I have some dwarf spruce).

I have heard Virburnum does well in shade, but I don't have enough room to grow them. Clethra, which is touted as being able to grow in a closet, was a dud for me every time I tried.