I know it isn't a shrub, but Lobelia Cardinalis (Cardinal Flower) is a native perennials that will love the moisture, provide you with some beautiful flowers and attract butterflies. Nandinas will grow just about anywhere and with moisture as will Chokeberry. Redtwig dogwood is another option but it gets big. Leucothoe (related to Pieris) is another. As for Clethra, I just planted a Ruby Spice and the tag indicated full sun but also mentioned its shade tolerance. I have talked to several gardeners who say it will not suffer reduced bloom in partial shade. As for light, gardeners typically consider full sun to be that which occurs between 11-5 since that is the most intense light. Morning light is much less intense, so I think it counts toward the light total, but not as much as the sun between 11-5.

Lakehouse - You definitely don't want a willow tree as they get quite big and have roots that can damage pipes, and climbing roses aren't fond of wet soil, although the wild swamp rose/Rosa palustris will do fine with wet feet and naturally grows in marshes. Most Wisteria can be a real bear to keep under control, and since it's near your house, you probably don't want that one either since it can damage structures, such as lifting shingles or bringing down gutters. A 7 x 7 space right next to a building is rather small for a tree, but there are shrubs which like or will tolerate damp feet, like Itea virginica/Virginia sweetspire which has nice foliage that turns red in the fall and has long narrow groups of little creamy flowers or Clethra alnifolia/Summersweet/Sweet Pepperbush which has flowers similar to Itea in pink or white in late summer. Clematis virginiana is a vine which is tolerant of wet soils (I have it growing wild along a stream) and has late summer white flowers that are smaller than most commercial clematis, but have good impact when blooming. You could grow that next to the shrubs so that it would grow into the shrub and provide a second season of bloom or grow it on a trellis or obelisk. If you have acid soil, highbush blueberry has spring flowers, summer berries, and fall color, and there are a couple of rhododendrons that you may be able to find that will happily tolerate wet feet, Rhododendron vaseyi/Pinkshell Azalea) and Rhododendron viscosum/Swamp Azalea, although most Rhododendrons hate wet soils. I am a bit confused about the wall and the wet soil. Is it a raised bed? and if it is, I am not sure why it stays soggy. Is the soil clay-like and sticky? You might want to get a soil test done (since you are in NY, Cornell U. does soil tests) to see what type of soil and what pH you have to get the best recommendations. Is this a seasonal lake house where large perennials would be fine, or do you need something that is still around in the winter? Carol has given you a couple of perennials which like wet feet and I am giving you a link to the Missouri Botanical Garden's plant search page which will allow you to find plants that like wet soil and you can choose other options as well. You can use a combination of shrubs and groundcovers or perennials to give a long season of interest. Here also is a cut and paste link to their page for plants that like wet sun: http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Resultspsp8.asp?pspid=14 Good luck with your plans and planting. Let us know what you decide to plant. Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden's plant finder

We've had much rain all summer, which was a blessing for the hosta. Some were lost due to the wetness, high humidity, and heat too. However, we had no temps over 100 that I know of. Other places were much hotter, even New England. Then, consider that we are more accustomed to having torrential downpours, sometimes as part of our "afternoon thunderstorms." When we have the flash floods, it is usually in areas where they paved too much and the low spots always flood. We are not on mountainous terrain, rather flat country with some hills now and then. And the water over the years has created its own pathways to the river and then the Bay and then the Gulf. I've listened to the news about Boulder, and considered that you are on high ground, Don, but sometimes even high ground can have problems with too much water for storm drains to carry. Kids can get into trouble playing near drainage canals etc. Glad to hear that you are pretty much insulated from this spate of wetness. I always enjoy having the rain, it tends to cool things down and that is good. The banana trees have multiple stalks this year, thriving on the rain. My hosta are happy in the shade of the tropical plants scattered around the garden for their benefit. We've been known to get 15 inches of rain in a 24 hour period, and one such occasion, when I was working locally, I saw the VW bug behind me start floating out of line at the traffic light. The driver jumped out and pushed his car back into line. Totally memorable sight, and funny too. This week we have NO rain. I'm hoping for some this afternoon, so I don't have to water the garden. Your hosta look wonderful, Don. Glad to see the Mr.Watson looking so good, and your Dick Ward....both of those are very strong plants with my favorite coloring and margins. Also my Princess Anastasia looks good, despite signs of something chomping on the leaves a bit. Doesn't seem to phase it though. I'll add a picture later, since I'm typing on my Kindle FIRE and I have no pictures on it yet, but will try to figure out how to tap into the Flickr account for HTML code.

We have a yard that has thick oak and maple trees that cover almost the entire yard to the east there are trees about the same size (50-75 ft.) so like you we have almost total shade we also have about 50% to 70% clay soil that is hard to grow much in. The types of plants that are the best for vertical appearance are some types of cattails or similar bog type plants here I've seen cattails grow natively in soil that is nearly entirely clay that is almost always a mud and sometimes boggy. I don't know if you had thought of trying to make a water garden here we have to dig at least 3' deep due to temps below 0 degrees F but we have floating water hyacinths on a pond during the summer and goldfish in the pond that were feeder fish that have become 6"-8" long from mosquito larvae and also provide the plants with excellent fertilizer. If you have stray cats they will get the slow fish and the others seem to survive the same applies to raccoons and oppossums. The water hyacinths can take over a pond but do very well in the shade. Elephant's Ears have to be dug up but seem to do well in our shade and climate too holly has also done very well as a perinial here. Otherwise between our temperature and soil you have tried everything we have best of luck to you.