summer flowering perennials for shade

[marsal]

Can anyone recommend any? I have a north facing border which gets a little bit of sun in the height of summer but which is shady due to a conifer hedge behind it (unfortunately protected so it can't come out..). It's lovely in the spring since its full of camellias and rhododendrons but in the summer its just foliage and not very attractive. I have bare earth to fill.. I was ideally looking for something white so that it brightens it up a bit.

Japanese anemones. We have a little woodland area in the garden with ferns and they absolutely thrive there.

Presume it's also quite dry because of the conifer? Some that spring to mind are tiarella and alchemilla mollis for early summer, Japanese anemone for later in the summer. There are almost certainly some euphorbias that would do ok and you can usually find a geranium for any conditions!

hellebores
Dicentra / bleeding heart
foxgloves
hostas
anenomes

Annuals like begonias

And second dicentra, too.

This plant grows in a very shady spot beneath a large tree on the north-facing side, where it never gets direct sunlight. It blooms throughout the summer, with flowers that open in the morning and close by midday, especially on sunny days. It was already here when we moved in nine years ago.

Thanks for posting this Op. I have a similar area in my garden and I am struggling to find some summer colour. I will take these suggestions with me to the garden centre today!

Foxgloves but I am biased at the moment because I just watched The Chelsea Flower Show on TV and they seemed to be everywhere! Always wanted to grown them but I have cats. I love the way they make a shady area look like an illustration from a fairytale book.

Ah, I have cats too. I avoid lilies religiously as it would be so easy for the pollen to brush onto their fur and then be licked off. As I understand it they would have to actively eat foxgloves to ingest the toxins. Is that the case? (Apologies for slight thread detail) I trust my cats not to eat the foxgloves. I also plant lots and lots of nepeta (catmint) for their amusement (but that more of a sunny spot plant so not for this thread).

I’ve got a couple of Brunnera ‘Jack frost’ which have really bright silvery foliage brightening up my shady border. I’ve got a lot of astilbe in there too.
if you want to supplement shrubs and perennials with some annuals, busy Lizzies are ok in the shade IME.

Oh hydrangeas are pretty good at dealing with shade too.

My cats ignore the foxgloves that are everywhere around here. I'm more careful with lilies.

The nepeta is a cat rolling paradise by my front steps, all the neighbouring cats can be found there, getting high on a sunny evening.

That is a tradescantia.

Rhododendrons are allelopathic which means that they release chemicals into the soil to prevent other plants from growing so you may have issues if you try to grow anything very close to them.

I have a similar area, recently planted Bergenia which is perennial. This one, middle of pic, flowered a pretty pink.

Couldn’t attach pic

Hebe, perennial, is also ok with shade.