I, too, am a planted native of Western WA. Throughout my childhood and youth, I foraged for berries all over Western WA. Now, in my own garden, although the majority of my plants are non-native, I have a lot of native plants interspersed here and there, that have volunteered and that I have nurtured, including both red and evergreen huckleberry and oregon grape, trilliums, etc. I have had all the berry plants growing in everything from complete shade to lots of sun. From my berry picking days, to my own plants, I can tell you that, even though they will grow in the shaded understory of the forest, the plants that produce the most berries, by far, are the ones that get more sun, and the more the better. This holds true for the flowering currents. As a berry picker, you always try to find a good thicket at the edge of the woods, with an eastern exposure. They really like several hours of morning sun. Sun exposure between 2 and 4 pm can kill young plants, but once established they can take that as well, if watered properly. I have a volunteer evergreen huckleberry growing out of a log in my back yard, in full sun, that is happy as can be. It gets enough water, because it's near a hardy fuchsia. A caution on fireweed (if that is what it really is). I have lived in Alaska, also, where it could almost be the state flower. It is a root runner and can be quite invasive, especially here in WA, where it doesn't get the winter cold to keep it in check. Salal, also a native, is also a root runner, but it is very hard to get established, if not growing there naturally. I have known people, whose yards are backed by a large forested area, that absolutely hate it. Regarding soil....all our native plants do like a highly organic, slightly acid soil. I have extremely light, sandy soil, which dries out very fast in the summer. My success with the natives has come from giving them a good, deep mulch of medium shredded bark, with fines in it. In the years I don't mulch I can really tell they are not happy. Good luck!

Hey Carrie, maybe I have dappled shade instead of dappled sun.........but this is what I grow there. Wood Ferns (from you), hostas, Kimberly Fern, sun coleus, Dragon Wing Begonia (must have), tall Ginger, Oriental Lilies, phlox (tall), and elephant ears. As you know, I have to try to have every plant in the universe so these HAVE to grow in the dappled sun/shade bed. The Dragon Wings are in red and are like jewels....bloom all season and I take cuttings. A decent house plant. Sun coleus gives spectacular color, too. I listed some just green but you will spot that in a heartbeat.

It will be easier for me, and hopefully for you, to show some pictures of the area. I took out some plants between the salvia greggii and blue mist in the bottom middle of this photo: That photo was taken at 4pm and by 5pm the area in question was in total sun. Hot, afternoon sun. But from about 9am until 5pm, it's in shade. I got a break and took the next picture while the sun was behind a cloud. Same garden from the other direction: bostedo, good question. I'd like it to be about 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall, just enough to make it interesting, and contrasting foliage would be nice too. I don't want everything the same height or the same leaf type. I had a gaura lindheimeri there but I think it must have been too wet for it. I have some gaura, probably prairie bee blossom, but it grows in a very dry part of my yard so I don't know how it would do there either. I have to water the salvia greggii at least once a week to keep the leaves from folding. But you have given me a thought. I have some gulf muhly that I need to move. But I have it in full sun now. I don't know how it would like so much shade. I also have some twistleaf yucca, but again, I don't know how it will like that much shade and moisture. I was planning to put it out by the street. Perylene, I'm afraid turk's cap and beautyberry would get too tall in this location. I wish Hot lips salvia was native; I've always liked it. I have a salvia azurea a little further down from this spot. I just bought it this summer so it hasn't gotten big or weedy. yet. If I like it there, I'll let it spread. So far, it seems to like that area. p.s. I also thought of little bluestem, but I was afraid it might look too weedy and be too aggressive there. This post was edited by marti8a on Fri, Sep 5, 14 at 18:47

Look at what rain garden plants are suggested for your area. These tend to be predominately native species but that nativity will be dependent on region :-)) What works in my climate and locale will not be the same as what works well in yours.