Complete novice and a shady patch!

[2ducks2ducklings]

I'm a terrible gardener. I have the best intentions of a beautiful flower garden which is a haven for all sorts of important wildlife. What I end up with is an expensive area of dead flowers because, although they looked pretty in the shop, they were completely unsuitable for my garden.
Can anyone recommend some basic, easy to care for plants which would do well in pots in an area that is in shade most, if not all of the day?
TIA

I really like:
heucheras
hellebores
hostas

To keep a hosta looking good (slug and snail free so no holes in leaves) make sure the leaves are not touching anything that they can get up and then either use copper tape on the pot or galvanised zinc pots as slugs and snails don’t like either.

For bulbs, snowdrops and lilly of the valley like the shade...they'll come back every year too.

Pansies and violas also like the shade and are delicate and pretty.

What shape is your garden? Does it have anything in it? Trees? Are there already garden beds laid out?

I have some trough planters in shade .

Last summer I put in bizzie lizzies and I was amazed at how they flowered all aummer .They only last the summer tho .

At the moment they have a lot of foliage plants

lamium red nancy ( I think lamium is really easy to grow/like a weed )
it's evergreen and won't need replacing

ajuga

forget me nots

trailing nepeta

I think a number of fuschias do well in shade ,and primulas .

Does depend on how big your pots are . The advice for pots is a a thriller ,a spiller and a filler .

I grew bacopa in a pot in the shade last summer .Bacopa is easy to grow ,not sure if it's known for growing in shade ...

Ferns.

And hostas, but the slugs will get them unless you do something to stop them.

Is it dry shade or damp shade? I'm my experience dry shade is very hard to plant, especially if you want pretty flowers. The majority of plants listed above are woodland plants, so damp shade loving. For dry shade I have had some success with cyclamen and periwinkles, some types of euphorbia, and there are a few ferns that cope with dry shade.

How about:

• hellebores (saw these in pots on Gardener's World a couple of episodes ago)
• heucherella (cross between heuchera and tiarella)
• ferns, as someone said, like Polystichum polyblepharum