Gardening advice - shade loving plants

[thebellagio]

I’m
In the process of revamping my back garden. It’s a south facing garden but the only place to put a flower bed is along the back, which is a shaded area. We have clay soil and as I’m a newbie gardener I have absolutely no idea what types of plants to choose. Ideally, I want something colourful but hardy and easy to grow - I guess some sort of shrub?

Can anyone give any suggestions? I’ve looked in my local garden center and I’ve been looking online but I’m starting to get a bit punch drunk with information now!

What would you all recommend if you could start a shady border from scratch?

Some years ago, there was a MN gardening thread on the subject called I think "Shady Characters". If someone can find it and resurrect it, it would be useful. I don't know my way around the MN software well enough to do this.

Here you go @SeaRabbit:

Shady Characters

Thank you Wildwood! I’ve posted on it to bump it, and this time I will bookmark it too.