Thanks for the suggestions. My garden does get some direct sunlight, but its at the back of the garden and only at certain times of the day and year. It gets brighter in the afternoon from about 3pm but the sunlight becomes dappled as it has to shine through some trees so theres not that much intense sunlight but its also not that dark either. I`m in uk so temps get freezing in winter. I`ve already got an acer plant which was supposed to prefer shade but every year it puts on a lovely show of leaves then early on they dry up and fall off even though I water it regular, I have no idea what I do wrong. I dont have much room for all that many plants in my garden, thats why I want to get it right, and choose plants that will put on a good display of colour and make my garden smell lovely without taking over the garden. My other problem is that I got a doggy last year and he ruined the lawn, thats why I`m currently decking and flagging it over. Yes Mint does grow in the shade, dont I know it. At my last house I planted some in the shady side and it grew like mad, I had to pull the flags up to uproot it. If I have any mint it will be grown from a pot then it wont take over like the last lot did. I thought that ferns would grow well in the shade because thats where they grow in the wild, under trees etc but when I looked at some in the garden center it said they prefer full sun but I will keep looking. I like the thought of my garden looking all green and lush and would like to see some really beautiful flowers from the creeper that I want to train up the pergola. The pergola will be where the most sun gets, I saw a lovely creeper plant on the internet called purple haze, do you think I would have any chance at growing one of these in my garden?