The closest trees are a lovely Japanese maple and a large oak. I haven't had trouble so far growing shrubs in areas closer to the trees than this will be. I admit to a bias against hostas because most of the rest of the yard is quite shady and I have more hostas than I know what to do with! But some will probably make their way into the border as I divide. I'm thinking about bugbane and maybe moving some astilbe and bleeding hearts over here once I get the shrubs figured out.... Started digging today! My first foray into "double-digging", and I think my back will be paying for it tomorrow.

I posit that the photo above DOES show extended wings, though without further information I absolutely agree that it doesn't have the widest/biggest wings of a Euonymus alatus individual that I've ever seen. There used to be one sold as 'Monstrosus' from Chicago area nurseries that could be used as a glider. Here is an image from the Morton Arboretum's herbarium collection that looks similar to the photo above: http://redwood.mortonarb.org/images/jpg/sheet/4/0035464MOR.jpg The posted photo above appears to almost taken in "plan view", i.e., directly from above and doesn't provide nearly the information that photos from various other angles might provide. "Wings" on 'Compactus' are often/always reduced to lines on the twigs - nearly absent. I believe what I see in the photo above does not equate whatsoever with "nearly absent." I'd say they equate with "average winginess" for the species. I also think the photo angle may create an idea of denser twigginess, but examination of the number of bud breaks along the stem for additional twigs along those main branches shows that there are fewer (far fewer) than one will see on run-of-the-mill 'Compactus' in eastern US landscapes. I did not suggest that "...the plants make different wings in different parts of the country..." I suggested that when a plant is typically found in abundance in a certain region - and some participants here may have encountered it far more often than other participants - that the seeker of information consider that when assessing the posted information. I would assert that your evaluation of plants and performance for northwest coastal conditions is superior to many contributors here. I do believe that plants can express different growth characteristics in different locations (not necessarily winginess of twigs, but certainly things length of shoots during growth spurts) due to common variables like fertility, moisture levels, daylength, etc. Certainly traits like maximum size for a species will be different in the Ohio River valley region than in the Puget Sound region.

Looks like an arctic willow bush, thanks!

I do want to add that the Seven sons flower that I mentioned above has never flowered, at least not a good show that I have ever seen good enough to notice since it is in mostly shade. I have a couple of Hazelnut shrubs, they've been planted here for about 5 years, the shrubs look great, but, I've never gotten any darn nuts from them, but, just for looks yeah, Hazelnut shrubs will do fine in shade. And I have "Japanese Rose" shrubs or "Kerria Japanica" shrubs, that will bloom yellow flowers in mid spring, they are easy plants to grow, they may need watered in the first year if you don't get much rain, but, after established, they are care free, they may even bear baby plant eventually if they like where they are. But, those Kerria Japonica shrubs will flower quite nicely in shade.