the little woman and i removed some english ivy that occupied a 12in deep (and 15 feet wide) strip of soil between our house and driveway and are looking to replace it with something more pleasant looking -- the ivy is much more "country" than our 1950s central austin home is. the strip faces north, and it gets some morning sun but mostly afternoon shade.

the reason that we took out the ivy is that it we'd like to do a better job of covering the underpinning (the 1-1.5 foot tall skirt around our pier-and-beam house). the ivy only went up about 6-7inches.

so, what i'd like to know from you well-informed gardenbanter.com folks is what small shrub or plant can we put in that area that will grow to 2 feet-ish tall in a morning sun-but mostly shaded 12 inch deep strip? the strip is about 15 feet long, and we'd like to plant several specimens of the same plant all the 15ft, for continuity.

many thanks for your suggestions!

mark

FYI, our original thought was for rosemary, but i don't think we get the requisite sunlight. also, we're not big fans of the liriope/monkey grass look.