Hi, could you give us a bit more info please, ie, which direction does the bed face? how much sun? how long for? morning or afternoon?, dry or damp? annuals or perennials?, Derek.

The bed faces south west and gets a little morning sun.
I would like to plant perennials for colour. It is quite damp.

Hi, here are some plants that I think will suit your conditions, not a fully comprehensive list, but enough to get you started.
Aqueligia, Asperula, Astilbe, Bergenia, Cimicifuga, Convallaria, Epimedium, Helleborus, Heuchera, Hosta, Pachysandra, Podophyllum, Polygonatum, Primula, Pulmonaria, Tiarella, Tolmiea, Trillium, Trollius, Veratrum, and Viola, good luck, Derek.

Lots of perennial geraniums would be happy there and give you bright colour, mostly shades of pink and blue - some flower all summer. Have a look at Long Acre Plants website, they specialise in plants for shade and there are heaps of pictures of many different plants there to give you some ideas. They will also give you advice. Thalictrum is a pretty tall plant for the back of the border, and some campanulas are happy in shaded areas, as some varieties are woodland plants. Snowdrops would love it and daffodils would also be happy. There's a blue version of the wild wood anemone that's gorgeous, (sorry am bad at names these days) and anemone nemorosa would also be OK. I have Welsh poppies that are surprisingly happy in a spot that gets only a few hours sun.