Look at "Shade Plants" under "S" down below.

Depends on a couple of things - how big is the 'patch' and does it stay damp all year, or does it dry out as summer arrives? If he's looking for a shrub, Mahonia aquifolium will fill a gap up to 5 feet eventually, with a similar height, but can be kept from spreading any more than that, and won't mind getting drier in summer and wetter in winter.

Ferns usually do well in damp shade. Does your son want a patch that will more or less look after itself or does he want to "garden" it?

Vinca minor or major (periwinkle), perennial geraniums, Pulmonaria, and Hostas will all be happy in damp shade.

Ooh, be careful with Vinca. It's a real thug. Hostas will be OK but so will the slugs if the ground is damp.

I've put a Mahonia Longiflorum in my shady corner. Looks healthy enough.

I wouldn't recommend Vinca either, I think its one of the most irritating plants - supposed to be good ground cover, but what it actually does is throw out long runners with growth on the ends, leaving bare soil with a leafless runner over the top of it - if you don't give it the Chelsea chop every year after its flowered. If the area remains damp most of the time, Astilbes are very attractive too.

What's that Arbuthnot? Can't find it on Google.

You're absolutely right, Bamboo, about Vinca, but the flowers are so pretty!

The leaves are really useful for covering Oasis when you've got gaps in an arrangement.

I love my vinca minor - it's always so lush and green and fills out a tough planting bed completely where hardly anything else will grow - no bare spots at all. The occasional periwinkle blue pinwheel flowers are always a bonus.

Maybe I've spelt my Mahonia wrongly, Stera. It's definitely a Mahonia though and one with open sprays of flowers.
I'm not going out in the raw wind to read the label though!

Why not Arbuthnot - out you go at once!
I'm impressed you've still got the label - I'm a prize label loser.

Ok, you won. I went out to read the label. The plant was only put in last year, hence the label -and there it was gone! So I still don't know but it might be Sweet Charity.

I've got Mahonia Charity too Arbuthnot - and it certainly does have long flower sprays that smell nice.

Glad I finally got a name that was correct, Stera! I was pleased that I could actually remember the word Mahonia, as my memory is disappearing down a big hole very rapidly.

Snap!