hi zmac, thanks for the info, further to other good advice, I think this is very much a personal thing but given that its in a shady position how about a Pieris forrestii (a lovely shrub with bright red new spring growths and smothered with bunches of white 'lily of the valley' like flowers from end of January to April) underplanted with Euonymous fortunei Emerald and Gold which will trail down and give bright golden variegated foliage all year ? These will give you lots of foliage colour and texture and you could always add a trailing fuchsia to give you a splash of colour ?
lannerman.