I'd say more sun than shade, though not baked over midday, excellent drainage and soil that's not 'cluggy'. They do appreciate reliable water when they're in leaf, though. They seem to be indifferent about planting depth - at least in the first year. Somewhere between one and four inches underground. They appear to multiply grandly and 'dig themselves down' whatever a caring gardener might do. If the clump is thinned out and the bigger corms planted in mid spring to early summer (over an inch wide) - like Gladiolus. Put the smaller ones in a 'grow on' bed, if that suits you. Otherwise you can leave them to make a clump so long as they won't be in boggy land over winter. Some of them also do quite well in deep pots provided that they aren't forgotten when it comes to regular refreshing of the medium.

I have a similar bed (sun to around 2 pm, then afternoon shade and dry). Here is what works for me...mostly hot colors tempered by purple/blue. Not all these would be hardy in your zone (and I'm too lazy to look up the hardiness ratings): - Salvia guarantica 'Brazil' - Diclipteria suberecta - Allium senescens - Oreganum vulgare 'Aureum' - Oreganum compactum 'Nana' - Galliardia 'Fanfare' - Hippeastrum 'Ackermanii' - Canna 'Bengal Tiger' - Solidago 'Golden Baby' - Coreopsis 'Tequila Sunrise' - Geranium 'Rozanne' - Aster 'Professor Kippenburg' - Habranthus tubispathus var texensis - Gladiolus 'Violetta' - Vernonia arkansana (you may not be able to find in the trade, but you could substitute any similar Vernonia) - Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mindia' - Crocosmia 'Jenny Bloom' - Crocosmia 'Warlhead' - Lysimachia congestiflora 'Persian Chocolate' - Thalictrum flavum 'Glaucum' - Common orange daylilies - Narcissus 'Avalanche' - Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus - Narcissus odorus plenus

I have a spot which sounds very similar to yours, without the woods behind. The mower marks, poor grass growing, weeds, puddles of water, & the consistent wetness are/were exactly the same. In my case it was a man-made depression to handle run-off from 6 houses in my subdivision to a large drain located in the corner of my back yard. There is a 2nd drain just outside my property by a few inches on the other side for the houses on that side to drain into. My yard is quite sloped side to side and front to back with a bit of extra dropoff just before the drain area. There was no possibility of raising the elevation or using the lasagna method. Here's what we did. We left the lowest part alone, except for digging out a bit here and there to direct the flow a bit. We added some gravel, some 2 inch egg rock, and a few semi-big rocks to make it more attractive, making a sort of dry creek, which isn't all that dry. This rock/gravel area also serves as a pathway through the area when it's dry enough. We added a couple of smaller sideways gravel paths so we can get in and work in the area as well. These don't actually handle water, but they look like they could & we tried to keep them as natural looking as possible by meandering the paths a bit and putting rocks at strategic points. We also have a few areas where we use large flat rocks for crossing. Any green stuff that intrudes into this area is cleared out by using Round-up once or twice a year. This area is a really small portion of the whole & we tried to keep it as small as possible (narrow paths etc.) & quite simple (Round-up) because rock hauling & weed removal from rocks is for people much younger than us! In the rest of the area we used a modified lasagna method. We used newspapers (6-8 pages dampened) and put down over it a small layer of dirt, mixed with bagged Humus and Manure, and covered it with a 2 inch layer of mulch, trying hard not to raise the elevation more than a little bit & start a war with our neighbors (all at a slightly higher elevation than us & them wanting to keep it like that). We did the work in the fall and let it go for the season. It looked neat and needed no more mowing, with only a moderate leaf cleanup off the rocks (pushed onto the mulched areas). Over the winter I developed a plan to add shrubs to the area, checking books & catalogs for things that can tolerate both wet and clay. I decided to plant only small bareroot shrubs, 12, 18, 24 inches tall, because I had no faith in anything actually being able to live in this spot. I settled on Variegated Red Twig dogwood which I bought locally as small shrubs & Itea, Clethra, a cutleaf Sambucus, & Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) that I bought as whips through a catalog. In addition, I purchased a couple of Emerald Arborvitae shrubs locally for some Evergreen color near the back center of the garden on higher ground. I also bought inexpensive (no cultivar name) starts of things like Ostrich Fern, water Iris, & Cardinal flower from a catalog and added a few plants from the pond section of the local nursery, plus moved a few astilbes (that I didn't like the color of) from another part of the garden. To my surprise most everything took quite well. Since that time (more than 5 years ago) I have tried different shrubs and perennials, pulled out a lot of things that got too big too fast, & had a great deal of fun with my "wet" garden. I have no idea if it would ever have qualified as a bog or a fen - but it was certainly wet enough. I have found that a lot of things will grow in the area and on the edges of the area. It never has to be mowed, there aren't any mower ruts anymore, it doesn't need watering, there isn't even much standing water anymore, and it's quite lovely. BTW, local landscapers, 5 of them, had been brought in to look at the yard during the summer before we did this work - none would give us an estimate (no way to get heavy equipment into the yard) and only wanted to plant River Birches or Bald Cypress trees in the corners. They said nothing else would work. A wee bit big for my small suburban lot & wouldn't my neighbors have loved the tree branches spreading all over their yards! I'm glad we did it ourselves. There are really just so many things that love this area. Here's a few: You can't tell from the picture but behind the Lady's Mantles (themselves 2 ft tall) is a dropoff and a big drain right in front of the yellow zinnias, which are further away than they look in the picture. To the left on the top ridge of the bed is Miscanthus sinensis Strictus and to the left Hibiscus moscheutos Sweet Caroline, both huge tall plants, blocking the view into the "wet" garden, except for this peek. Behind them are various water/damp loving perennials & some small shrubs, with a mixed row of damp & clay tolerant shrubs behind them along the fence. Here's the rest of the Strictus grass and Lysimachia Alexander. The entry path to the "wet" garden is just on the left of Alexander. On the left side of this narrow path is a dwarf Meadowsweet, about the same size as Alexander on its own little island. There is another path to the left of it going the other direction to higher ground. You can also see a bit of the Ostrich fern which is actually about 5 ft back and on the far edge of the drainage ditch. Trollius, an early bloomer likes damp. The dark shrubs in the background are Physocarpus Diablo on the higher back ridge, not quite filled out yet this early in spring. Bowles Golden Sedge looks great against the Diablo foliage. Japanese Primrose (Crimson Strain) sprinkled here and there in the area. Love the color. Virginia Bluebells, one of my favorite spring ephemerals. This runs along the fence side of the bed, before the Swamp Hibiscus is even out of the ground.

O.K. Let's start with the Juniperus chinensis 'Blue Point'. . .most junipers PREFER full sun, but that usually only means that they will look their very best in full sun, not that they will collapse and die. In my own garden (and many others) I have successfully grown junipers (one of my favorite conifers) in LESS than full sun - I have a 16-year old J. 'Old Gold' that started out in full sun, but as the tree near it matured, the area became mostly dappled shade, with just one hour of direct morning sun. . .it's still going strong, but it's not as dense as before, and you definitely lose the golden new growth in the Spring. I'm currently growing J. 'Sargentii' in partial shade; it's simply not developing as quickly as another in the full sun. A J. communis started in 3/4 sun, finally had to come down when that reversed to 3/4 shade. . .but not before it had grown 20' tall ! ( I limbed the tree a few weeks before Christmas, so our holiday Bazaar had HUGE arrangements of juniper boughs, weighted down with masses of their blue berries - the hall actually reeked, beautifully!) The remaining trunk was cut into three sections, the bottom third left rooted in the ground, while the other two were lashed to the original to form a "natural" tripod. . .which is currently buried in clematis, C. 'Jackmani' and 'Guernsey Cream'. . . But I digress. . . The Juniperus 'Blue Point' in my side yard is growing in 3/4 sun, and doing well. . .how well it will do in your specific situation, I simply couldn't promise. Since the location is very "in your face" - you pass them every time you enter or exit the house - perhaps you should lean toward a more site-specific plant. Sorry. . .can't lie to you. . . :-) That brings us to another point that someone made about the "matching pair" of shrubs not growing identically (horrors!). . .so I have to share this story of how a very "anal" garden friend solved this exact problem. She had decided on a "matching pair" of shrubs on either side of the front steps leading up to her porch, but being obsessive, she INSTANTLY realized that they would be getting unequal amounts of sun (due to the sun's angle and the porch corner casting a partial shadow). Her solution? The two shrubs each went into large, individulal pots - I seem to remember they were some kind of hollies - and once a week, the pots were given a half turn in place, and then once a MONTH, the pots changed position. It didn't hurt that the pots were fiberglass, which cut down on the muscle required, but trust me, I would NEVER go that far for perfection !!! Gotta tell you, though - they did develop into a perfectly matched pair. . . Which makes me think: just as someone else suggested statuary, how about a pair of those tall, elegant pots (easily 3'-4'), each planted with a tall, stunning (4'-5') canna or other narrow perennial or annual, and mounding/cascading plants at the base of the central plant which would easily give you your 3' width and a teardrop look. Martha Stewart would love it. . . Answer to question: yes, yews ARE male and female. . .if you have one of the common Taxus cuspidatas (the kind available at Lowes and HD), all you need to do is locate a Taxus cuspidata 'Aurescens' (see the link below) and plant it nearby in the sun.. T. 'Aurescens' is a quite lovely, golden-needled evergreen which stays low to the ground. . .he's a real stud muffin, and the Taxus ladies in my garden have been popping out berries ever since I brought him home. . .CAUTION: IF THERE ARE LITTLE ONES AROUND, KNOW THAT THOSE BERRIES ARE VERY TOXIC !!! Finally, my personal experiences with Thuja 'Green Giant': terrific plant (developed with yours and my tax dollars by our National Arboretum), IN THE RIGHT LOCATION ! Because the sellers know they have a good product, they'll tell you anything to get you to buy it, like it grows only 8'-12'. . . that is total B.S. !!! Example: I planted a row of five of them along a friend's back fence just three years ago - while only 4' tall when we put them in, they are now OVER 12' tall !!! Following recommendations from many sources, I planted them 7' apart. . .sometime this growing season, they will finally meet and completely obliterate my friend's 6' fence. . .that's a pretty cool delivery on a promise of a fast screen! But even the National Arboretum will tell you that they will be at least 30' tall in 30 years, and will continue to grow over a lifetime into 60'-80' GIANTS. . .hence, their name. . . They are one of those rare shrubs/tress whose growth rate is so spectacular that you can easily afford to buy small (my 3'-4' specimens in 3 gallon pots were just $15. apiece!) - some other fast-growers I've had great success with are Leyland cypress and Betula nigra. Wow! I think this long-winded response adds up to four cents, at least. . . Carl Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden Plantfinder