What should I put in this border? And when?

[BubbleySoup]

We've finally got the inside of out house sorted so I'm starting to think about the garden now.

I want to start on the front garden as it looks like it has the least to do.

It's a small lawn surrounded by a border then a hedge about maybe 5' tall.

Thankfully it's not overgrown but the border has been dug up and just allowed to grass over so I'd like to dig that up and plant flowers.

However I've never really done any gardening before so I've no idea what to plant (or when but I'm assuming spring?).
All I know is that it needs to be something that will do well in the shade.

I'd like it to be something that flowers every year rather having to replant stuff and it'd be nice to have something very colourful.

Any advice at all would be wonderful and very appreciated.

The bit with the multi-coloured dots is where I want to plant the flowers.

Autumn is a good time for planting; the soil is still warm and plants can get established before winter. Have a look here for some ideas, then go to the garden centre to buy. It’s a good idea to put 3 plants in of any one sort - if you just put one in it can look messy - but a single larger shrub should be fine. It’s tempting to fill a border, but it’s better to take into account the size of the plant when fully grown and plant accordingly. You can also underplant with bulbs to fill any gaps.