Tricky spot in friend's garden

Are any Carex varieties tall enough?
20" Carex muskingumensis 'Oehme' (Variegated Palm Sedge) spot to dry for it?

foxglove (eh)
anenome
beebalm
cardinal flower
rudbeckia
monkshood
snakeroot

I have a similar trouble spot right behind our garage (sandwiched between three walls and a very large fir tree. Lamb's Ears love it. I don't irrigate there. Though some websites say that they are full sun plants, I haven't found that to be true at all:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/138/


I'd also suggest Box which I find it to be a very handy and hardy plant, very amenable to pruning.

Boxwood - Buxus sp.
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General Information: Boxes are densely branched shrubs native to Europe and Asia. A hedge steeped in history, box sprigs have been found in the tombs of Romans. It is widely used as a hedge plant, and is a common topiary subject. Most varieties of box are marked by a distinctive "foxy" smell which some find distasteful. The box is an important plant commercially, as it is one of the few woods heavier than water, and is thus used for making woodcuts and precision instruments.

Most boxes are grown as hardy bonsai, but the Harland box has been successfully grown as an indoor plant. Box is very popular for bonsai due to its tiny leaves and flowers and its tolerence for extensive pruning and shaping. One note of caution: box leaves are poisonous, and eating even a few can kill a small pet.

Lighting: Box is not particular. Sun or shade both work well. Buxus harlandii prefers shade or semi-shade, and has an indoor light requirement of only 800 Lux.

Temperature: Hardiness depends on variety, but boxwoods need protection from frost and cold winds even when grown in the proper climate. In the summer, box appreciates fresh air.

Impatiens?

Dys, they're too short, but good guess.

Piffka - boxwood would work there, but not really with her style - ya know?

I can't suggest specific plants, but any trouble spot is improved by lots and lots of compost and lots and lots of mulching.

A well nourished plant is a fighter.

George Tabor azaleas might work - they're hardy southern indicas. I kept mine to about 12-18" deep, in a long planting row by a chainlink fence. Not sure if they are right for your zone though.

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Noddy - true, she hasn't laid down mulch (I told her to).

Osso thanks!

Slappy..........thanks, but no thanks.

George Tabor azaleas wouldn't make it to November here <sigh>

If she's looking for something that might be a little more carefree and there aren't any little one's running around she could try baneberry.

evergreen azaleas with some acidic soil amendments (pine needles) might do very well.

Tabor is evergreen, but being a southern indica azalea is probably iffy in that climate, even though it and 'formosa' are the hardiest of them. Hmm, trying to remember other azalea groups - belgian indica?

Looks like Gable hybrids will take 0 degrees....

http://www.berkeleyhort.com/plants/p_azaleas_hybridtypes.html

we need -0 hardiness - we're zone 6.

there are little ones..... but many plants are poisonous.

How about Annabell hydrangeas?

I can't imagine someone needing such a specific plant and not loving a variegated buxus... however these are also low-growing:

Silk-tassel Bush

Hellebore (the shade-loving variety)

Euonymus fortunei

common white calla lily, which, unlike the colored versions, prefers mostly shade.

J_B - I think I suggested hydrangea and she nixed the idea..... I'll try to suggest it again.

Piffka:
Cala lilies are annuals here. <sigh>
I don't know whatsilk-tassel bush it - a willow?
Hellebore is too short.
Maybe the euonymus.....

The white snowballs would be pretty foreground to the clematis. Maybe she's thinking about the mopheads that get all dropping. Annabells stay upright pretty well.