Fothergilla will require acid soil and won't tolerate clay. Think about some dwarf conifers? Thuja, tsuga/ hemlok/ and taxus/ yew/ have great shade tolerance and have many dwarf forms. Hosta and juniper will look good together and junipers are adapatable to city conditions and some shade. Container clematis? I have Cezanne and Versalis and they both can be left at 2 feet height while blooming their heads off. Itea virginica Little Henry blooms in the summer very nicely. Dwarf viburnum? Dwarf acer- palmatum dissectum are my favorites. Thuja had many dwarf forms some of them golden ones, will take some shade and clay soil. Sambucus Golden locks won't grow more than 3 feet and has lacy dissected yellow leaves, white blooms and red berries in the fall. Some chamaecyparis is gorgeous and has slow growing/ dwarf varieties, not all of them are hardy for zone 5 but worth looking into.

As I am only in my second season of growing in this situation, I am a complete novice....but a few tentative observations. Firstly, not only is the entire area rooty (it is a poplar plantation) and dry, I have no irrigation either (apart from a ridiculous saucepan on a long stick), so, I am growing from seed, directly in situ, or transferring tiny plants straight into the ground rather than potting them on (which is what I would normally do). As they only get puddled in once, it is quite true to say, the smaller, the better, when it comes down to establishing a rootmass. Then, there are the roots themselves. The bigger, the better....so, looking at what is growing already, I am seeing plants with great tap-roots or vigorous rhizome-y type affairs which can search out the (plentiful) water down at water table level. Cow parsley, hogweeds, nettles are all rampant....which gives me huge encouragement as my woods are nothing like evergreen plantations or beechwoods. Grasses grow freely, so I have added clovers and sainfoins, along with many wildflower seeds. Bulbs, of course, are an obvious suggestion - 3000 narcissi were planted last year - after 50 years of fallow neglect, the fertility in the soil is surprisingly high (as the chickweed and nettle attests) and I am helping out further with comfrey. and various legumes (the lathyrus of various types are doing well) From seed, foxgloves, meconopsis, aquilegias, hesperis, hardy geraniums, salvias, callirhoe, linaria, martagons, bluebells, campanulas, cenolophium, peucedanum, chaerophyllum, millium, valerian, campions,lysimachias and epilobiums are thriving....and I have added many other varieties (as I feel it is going to involve harsh selection and extensive culling). Of course, I am still feverish with delight at owning A WOOD....although I alternate between despair, glee, delusional tendencies and insane optimism....sometimes in the same day..

There's nothing quite as cool-looking(temperaturewise) as BLUE flowers. I grew Phacelia a few years ago, best blue i ever saw, next to cornflowers. The bell-shaped blue flowers with icy-white anthers were beautiful, and stirred up images of cooler weather. They do have a short bloom time, hot weather just about stops the show, cutting back helps somewhat. Give 'em a try, i believe there are 2 or 3 varieties. Good luck, and enjoy.

I think it's kind of rude to comment just to tell me what I did wrong by asking for help (with plenty of detail) and using pictures that were readily available to me. If you are giving advice, which is what I asked for, these pictures are good enough. It doesn't matter on what site, on what forum- there is always one person who just HAS to pipe up to be unhelpful and critique your request instead of answering your questions. I was asking for advice on my own fledgeling plan- not asking for free design from someone. Next time if you don't have anything helpful to say, and if you can't give your thoughts nicely, just don't say anything. I'm sure it's satisfying to try to discourage new gardeners by giving your two cents about their photos, their ideas, and whatever else without giving your opinions on the questions actually posed. Going on the attack like that with the third degree, "You indicate you are new at creating a landscape, and frustrated by attempting the process of planning it. Then you go on to say how you intend to resolve it. Do you care if those ideas are good? Or you just want help in how to implement them? You might consider advice on what you ought to do instead of what you want to do." I'm not a child and am fully capable of planning and doing it on my own, thank you, I'm just here to see if a KIND person might give a few suggestions or point out something they've seen that looked nice on a similar house. Also, there is nothing wrong with being honest about what's in the cards for you (budget, time, and overall investment wise) than just wasting everyone's time. I didn't want a thread with 20 responses about how I need to limb up, thin, or remove trees in my yard. I want a thread about how to plant a line of perennials in front of my house that will look nice together. I think in my essay of a post I made that fairly clear.