ok newbie.. i gave you an answer in the other forum..

here is a different answer.. and how i did it ..

back in the day.. i went to every local nursery.. and bought one of everything that met the cultural requirements.. and planted them all ... [culture meaning shade plants for shade.. and sun for sun]

over the years.. they have come.. and they have gone.. and i have learned ....

your first mistake as a newbie.. as i read your post.. is that you think we can just throw out a garden design that will be pleasing to you.. and easy to work with .... and i dont think that is how it is done ...

just buy some stuff.. stick it the the ground.. and make it live...

we will worry about design in a few years.. when we see what you accomplished ... by which time your thumb will have turned green .... and we.. you and us.. can have a conversation about what you like [other than color] .. why .. and how you might want to use it ....

otherwise.. find a catalog that offers an all-in-one garden.. and mail order it ... its a start ....

good luck

ken

ps: ya know.. this post has just sat here for so long with no reply .... hopefully mine.. will stimulate other suggestions ....

Depending on how much sun the area gets, here are a few low-maintenance suggestions that might at least get you started:

- Carex 'Ice Dance'/Japanese sedge grass - variegated green/white
- Hosta 'Dream Weaver' - variegated blue-green/cream
- Aquilegia/Columbine 'Tower White'
- Alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle
- Heuchera/coral bells 'Snow Angel' - variegated green/white mottled foliage
- Hemerocallis/daylily 'Ice Carnival' or 'New Falling Stars'
- Brunnera macrophylla/Siberian bugloss 'Jack Frost'
- Hellebore/Lenten rose
- Persicaria virginiana/fleeceflower
- Dicentra eximia/fern leaf bleeding heart
- Lobelia siphilitica/great blue lobelia
- Weigela 'White Knight'

I have these plus many others growing on the mostly shaded north side of my house, among them blue hydrangea but there are white hydrangeas available as well.

Remember to plant evergreens. I don't know what is EV in your zone. Euonymous fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety' varigated green/white might brighten up that spot. It can be a groundcover or climb up a trellis, but it's very slow growing.