I'm growing some others that may be ok with your shade, probably the best is Aronia aka chokeberry. According to Wiki, "red chokeberry is more palatable and can be eaten raw" with red and black making excellent jam and wine. I have Mahonia aquifolium aka Oregon grape doing very well in full shade next to Leycesteria formosa plants that you might possibly want to try. The berries at best tasting pleasant like caramel depending on the individual plant. You may strike lucky and get a very good tasting berry or something you wouldn't want to eat twice. I have several Prunus laurocerasus. Mine didn't like being under dense trees but can deal with a few hours sun a day or maybe a north wall. I've seen these sold as vase shaped 6 footers that didn't look very suitable for my confined garden, my own plants have grown more reasonably. You may be able to grow a Berberis vulgaris and I'd say do it if you can, on a corner with a few hours sunlight if possible. It will become a large attractive shrub in a few years, loaded with Barberrys. These are pretty good when fully ripe and containing the antioxidant berberine. There was an old elusive seedless variety that has been thought missing but a specimen might turn up someday somewhere in Europe. It's thought that this seedless cultivar is the same as the Zereshk of the zereshkestan orchards of Iran, berberis grown together with saffron.It seems probable but good luck getting hold of a seedless one. When I first started growing I cut down a huge 10 year old shrub to make room for fruit plants. It was a Berberis vulgaris I was soon to learn and I was kicking myself. Luckily I hadn't completely destroyed it and it now produces about 200 Barberries. This would've been 10,000 if I'd have left it, several thousand if I had known what it was and pruned it carefully. :( You can't win 'em all. I might take a photo tomorrow to show how it sprung back (an invasive plant in places apparently).

Here is a garden under an ash tree in OH in it's even though the garden was just over a year old at the time, from previously being sparse grass. There are hostas, columbine, creeping phlox, Pulmonaria, Bergenia, Trillium, violets, Polemonium (jacob's ladder,) a few bulbs, Lamium, a little lilac, ready to be a tree if the ash got emerald beetle borers (I moved, remains a mystery,) and a few others I don't remember and can't see from this angle. 4" of mulch can retain moisture for weeks. Of your list, I would avoid the Vinca. Just too sprawling/spready to play nice with the other plants. In general, you don't want vines in a flower bed. Entities like Vinca or Ajuga that rapidly spread really do best in their own, well-enclosed space. Spreading through other more self-contained plants, these spreaders can make the whole thing look like a confused mess. But, like most things-gardening, this is subject to your personal opinion on the matter.

eadaein, I've done a bit of research on this subject and have this to say about that! I chose a Shamel Ash for the front yard. It's a fast grower, looks great now and this is its first spring. For the backyard I'm planning a 'second patio' area that will be three Royal Poinciana's in a grouping, each tree about 20' apart. I believe they are also fast growers and will grow to a wide, flat umbrella if properly trained. The only thing about that Indian Rosewood is the upright shape. For a shade tree I prefer a wide crown, rounded crown or even the vase-shape to an upright. But it depends too on where the tree is going, etc, etc. There is a free booklet available at most nurseries called Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert. It has lots of great information. For example, they list the Indian Rosewood tree as a fast grower (40' x 30')with an upright shape, low litter, no thorns and it's a large shade tree. Eucalyptus grow fast but I hate those trees. Re: the vines the booklet says cat claw grows fast but can damage walls and fences. Think about Lady Banks roses, little maintenance, fast grower, thick evergreen. I guess I would put a sturdy trellis around the house for whatever you plant to climb up so it's not climbing right onto the house. Just an idea. HTH and good luck. Mary

There's another thread showing the buckthorn cultivar with a number of fruits on it. And it - like the rampantly growing virginia creeper - is deciduous = seeing through it all winter. In general the quality hedges for shade are yew, holly and box. With different specific kinds of these having differing regional suitability. But attractive dense hedges like these take many years to get much height. Whereas fast growing kinds like privet tend to have a more sloppy appearance associated with their fast growth, unless kept formally sheared - as always in life there are tradeoffs involved with this subject area. And with you being in USDA 5 long term cold hardiness will be an important factor. Otherwise with that pine on your side of the fence and the other quite close to it on the other side being where the existing hedge attempt ends their presence is probably what killed the arborvitaes. (Although it looks like you planted the now highly prevalent 'Smaragd' - partial or complete failures both with recent as well as older hedge plantings of this particular variety are rather frequent, due probably to an assortment of circumstances).