I live in zone 6, central PA. My foundation plants are: Wintergem boxwoods (back row closest to house). In front of them are Palace Purple Coral Bells with an Astlbe planted at each end of the coral bell row. In the front row, I had planted Liriope (which I thought was Big Blue but it was so invasive I had to pull it all out; which makes me think it wasn't Big Blue because I don't think Big Blue is invasive?). Can you give me some ideas for what I can plant in that front row instead? It gets morning sun until probably close to noon then shade from the house the rest of the day. Would Painted Lady Ferns work? Some ideas of what to plant to make the bed "pop"? Thank you!

Japanese shade grass hackenchloa (sp?) all gold looks beautiful with Purple Palace.

Some thing in a bright green would look good. If you do not like the Forest Grass another Heuchera like Citronelle would look good. Sweet Kate Spiderwort should also work , not invasive like other Spiderwort.

I have sweet kate and love it, but mine has full sun.

hostas, some are pretty sun tolerant, ferns, I have stargazers and they get sun til about 2 pm and do great, azaleas, ajuga (ground cover and spreads alot) hardy begonias (never knew there was such a thing but I love mine!) coleus, impatiens, ligularia, I also have wild violets (some people hate those-very very invasive but they pull out easily enough) astilbe, hellebores (different colors of flowers that bloom very early) bleeding hearts, (pink white or red variety and one w lime foliage)

Here is my new garden, with four cultivars of coral bells and several companion plants:



Plants are (front to back, left to right):
3 Hosta (Touch of Class) (My favorite hosta because it holds up better than most other hostas into fall and because of its thick slug-resistant leaves)
1 Liriope (Big Blue)
3 Coleus (Coleus scutellarioides Stained Glassworks™ Trailing Plum)
3 Coral Bells (Amber Lady)
1 Sedge (Carex oshimensis EverColor® Everillo)
1 Coral Bells (Heuchera 'Carnival Peach Parfait')
1 Coral Bells (Heuchera 'Georgia Peach')
1 Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis 'Red Star')
1 Coral Bells (Heuchera Dolce® Wildberry)
5 pink New Guinea Impatiens
1 Japanese Painted Fern (Anisocampium niponicum)
2 Cordyline Design a Line™ Burgundy
4 Coleus (Coleus scutellarioides 'Rainbow Floral Strain Mix') (not visible in this pic)

So you are looking for a row in front of the Palace Purple? Some painted ferns can get big but something like Burgundy Lace should stay smaller. Smaller hostas, small asarums like A. splendens or A. europaeum., bruneras, pulmonarias, hardy geraniums like Biokova, Alpenglow or Samabor, Golden Gilt toadlily, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, alpine strawberries, bergenia with some Limelight licorice plant, golden oregano, ajugas like Burgundy Glow or Chocolate Chip, Pink Octopus campanula, tiarella to name some.