EDIT: Here is a second view of the purple and blue (and, apparently, white!) flowers in question. Thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: Shady flowers?

Hi carpathia, I am in Pittsburgh also and doing a hillside. I know the conditions you are dealing with and you will probably not have to terrace it to have plants survive and have a beautiful area. I did throw all my fall leaves up there every Fall and it made the soil rich and that really helped to make the soil retain even more moisture. I am using a lot of bushes. I will fill in as I go with some other plants but a large hillside I felt like it needed something more substantial than a bunch of little plants. I am using vinca as the ground cover. I have so far.... Buddleia Caryopteris Cornus Arctic Fire Hydrangea (hopeful with this because the deer love it) Physocarpus Coppertina Sambucus Black Lace Sambucus Sutherland Gold Weigela My Monet Rose of Sharon Check out Lowes Clearance rack in the back of the store. They have some awesome sales. I picked up a lot of bushes for 3.00 last fall for the hillside.

That looks to me like variegated euonymus which is a really slow-growing evergreen that does well in shade. My soil is very acidic (sorry, don't know the pH) + I have a lot of shade and it grows well where I am. In addition to what's been suggested so far, brunnera, lady's mantle, carex/sedge, snakeroot, toad lily, Lenten rose/hellebore, pulmonaria, columbine, persicaria & Virginia bluebells are all thriving in my full shade area. Astilbes like moist soil but all mine survived last year's extended drought and are back this year as if nothing happened. Same with the hydrangea & weigela planted nearby--they looked pretty bad by August last year but all have returned again unfazed. The weigela really shot up and has nearly doubled in size since 2010--I actually pruned it back yesterday and put the cuttings in a big jelly jar of water.

If you are getting maybe 2-3 hours of sun, day lilies should do well. The ones under a roof overhang in my front bed get about that and never get watered. With all of the colors available, you could easily mix and match and blend the yellow flowers of the St. John's and the white of the woodruff. Rain