What a beautiful place! And, yes, you have your hands full. Native perennials and/or native shrubs are best for the butterflies and insects. Perennials usually only bloom for part of the spring or summer, so a mixture of plants that bloom at different times is ideal. I also include some annuals in the mix to guarantee blooms most of the summer. As far as specifics, coneflowers, snapdragons, salvias, penstemon, milkweeds, dill and parsley for black swallowtails, lupine, rudbeckia, liatris, columbine, anise hyssop, monardas, lavender, asters, etc. Shrubs, which it looks as if you might have room for, could include Spicebush, viburnums, high bush cranberry, blueberries, and more. That's a decent start off the top of my head. I'm sure others will chime in with more suggestions. You will have a beautiful spot, even if you do absolutely nothing. Good luck.

Martha

My house faces east as well but is shaded by mature oak trees and a crabapple. I've planted a dozen or more hosta varieties under the crabapple along with variegated Solomon's seal, astilbe, globeflower, lady's mantle, coral bells, toad lily, columbine, carnation, bleeding heart, black snakeroot & turtlehead, none of which require any attention from me whatsoever other than admiration. All are planted with the benefit of pollinators foremost in mind.

With sufficient sun, coreopsis, Shasta daisy and perennial geranium could be added to the list along with butterfly bush, blue mist shrub & catmint.

I would suggest a mix of smaller shrubs and larger perennials for less maintenance and 4 seasons of interest. Like gardenweed I recommned the buddleia bushes & caryopteris, plus spireas 'Galen', 'Lemon Princess', 'Ogon', baptisia australis, tancetum 'Isla Gold', taller siberian iris cultivars, salvia 'Caradonna', penstemon 'Dark Towers', herbaceous clematis 'Roguchi' which you can grown through a 3 ft obelisk, iris pallida 'Vareigata', geranium sanguineum which make neet little mounds. The list is endless.

Thanks for all the great info!

I am trying to avoid most shrubs as they will eventually become larger shrubs, and be too large for the location without a lot of pruning. Example, one 8' tall Buddleia died back to the ground and was slow coming back. It's already 3' tall.

Likewise, I have 250+ hostas already (closer to 300 if I divide them) in shaded areas. They could also get sunburnt or pretty big in this location unless I get some minis that stay mini.

I would like to add some color, and also some texture that isn't easily found elsewhere in the yard. I'll be looking through the suggested ones carefully....

Again, thanks!

vince