'Diabolo' ninebark will be green in anything less than full sun, though it will grow normaly. The same will apply for the purple or yellow barberies. In Japanese maples department you could find plenty of choices for short and tall, narrow or wide growing plants with red leaves.

there's shade, and then there's shade. there's many things that tolerate shade, some that thrive, and a few that need it. What's causing the shade? If the cause is large existing trees...you also have water issues that will determine how successful any new plantings are going to be. If buildings, that's much easier to manage. does evergreen matter? boxwood and yew. rhoddies possibly. what time(s) of the year are you looking for screening? If year round, look for evergreen. If seasonal, there are more options. It's also possible to use certain large growing, shade loving perennials (hosta, lugularia, cimicifuga, aruncus among others) if all you are concerned about is the growing season.

I just got back from the local nurseries, plants are super expensive, so I would give you a couple of additional pointers added on to the excellent ones already posted. An attractive plant assemblage has something called "year round interest." That helps your landscape from looking fabulous during one season and "blah" for the other three, which is what you will have in LI. Also, it's key to having your plantings look good to remember success is largely due to "right plant, right place." Plants have idea soil and light and moisture requirements, as well as space and they get along better with some plant neighbors than others. So spend some time observing your front foundation area and figure out how much sun and shade you actually get. There's a big difference between full shade and partial shade as far as what will grow and give you some color. Also, a mix of evergreen and perennial shrubs plus some with interesting bark will assure that your plants have some "winter interest" which is the toughest. The biggest problem I can see with your current landscaping is you have some kind of small tree or big shrub right in front of the bay window, so that you can't see out and its beautiful form cannot be appreciated from the street. I'd hack that thing down without remorse because you have another one next to it anyway. You have what appears to be a blue bird's nest spruce or some other kind of spruce weirdly pruned right next to the door. It's not my cup of tea but it does add another color, bluish green. If that's what I'm seeing, hard to tell. It also appears that on the far left corner of the house (from my view looking at the house) you have a Japanese maple that has a lovely form, just not leafed out when this picture was taken. I don't know what you love about your neighbor's front, but some of the nice things I see is that they have shrubs and small trees with a variety of shapes and colored foliage, and a weeping evergreen, plus some kind of shrub that is in bloom and maybe has reddish foliage. Those are some elements you are missing if you like. A very nice landscape shrub for flowers, scent and stunning fall foliage is Mt. Airy Dwarf Fothergilla. Very hardy and does well in shade. It's pretty but not exciting in the summer but wonderful in the spring when it is blooming, and fall when the leaves turn brilliant shades of orange-ish red. You can grow another shrub I love but doesn't thrive in my zone, Japanese andromeda, which you can find labeled "Pieris Japonica." There is also a similar native plant called "Leucothe" which is not quite as showy but is a broad leaved more or less evergreen plant so that would be a nice contrast to the evergreens you already have. Another fabulous spring flowering set of shrubs that you can grow in your zone are the rhododendrons. There are also azaleas but they need more sun. That's why I said check your actual sunny hours and what time of day. These are spring bloomers but look nice structurally at other times. And then there are a whole set of viburnum's and hydrangeas that are the big early or late summer bloomers. Viburnum are white blooming, the native highbush cranberry also has stunning red berries in the fall. That one grows to be a beast but if you are into it, you can keep it pruned back, but it will take work. I see they offer a dwarf variety but you may not be able to find it. There are lots of dwarf hydrangeas like little lime, etc. Now, if you indeed have at least six hours of sun, then you can grow some pink flowering shrubs like "Wine and Roses" or "Spilled wine" weigela and goldmound or magic carpet spirea. These small shrubs have colorful foliage and beautiful early summer pink blooming. Just some ideas to get your juices flowing. Go to a reputable nursery where you can get someone to help you who knows what goes with what and what is easy care. It's also important to space your shrubs far enough apart to leave room for how big they will get when they reach their mature size. Smaller shrubs are cheaper and they grow faster than the larger ones, but they look a little sparse for the first year or two. The standard garden technique for handling that situation is to inter-plant with colorful annuals until your shrubs fill in. It happens fast.

I got excited and started doing things... :-O There was some sort of Nandina bush that was here when I bought the place, but it was right along the walkway and would sort of all apart when it rained, blocking the walk! So I dug them all up and threw them out. A few years later I had this tiny sprig come up, so I dug it up and planted it somewhere else. Now that sprig is about 18" tall! So I gave it a new home in the upper corner, next to the deck. Then I went to the bottom of the hill and started to dig up the hostas, sedum, coral bells, and setcreasea. I put in a short rock wall where the slope drops off, then put a hosta back above the wall and a coral bell below the wall. Then above the hosta I moved a Japanese painted fern from another garden that used to be part shade, now it's full sun and the fern isn't doing so great: I also have these three ferns that I might move to this area: That last fern is pretty big! The other two are pretty small. I think the middle one is another Japanese painted fern, but I'm not positive. The first one? No clue. I also have a ton of Rose Campion that I could easily relocate here: It'll apparently tolerate part shade but not flower, which would be just fine! I could put it closer to the front for texture. I have some Easter lilies that allegedly do OK in part shade, too. I don't have anywhere else to put them, so it can't hurt to stick them in here and find out! LOL And tomorrow I'm gonna go pot shopping, hopefully find something tall enough (and not stupid expensive) to cover the dryer vent. Then I'll plant an elephant ear and coleus in there, with canna lilies in front of the pot. That's as far as I got. My plan is to dig up the rest of the plants from above this area, and then tackle the Mondo grass :-O The Mondo grass is going to take some work, the roots are grown all around my landscape wire! I have Mondo grass flanking walkways throughout the whole property, but I think that I'd do better here with something different.