I have a flower bed in front of my porch that is total shade (does get light, but no direct sun). I have tried several plants but now need to put in larger plants as I plan to put in a herb garden in front of the sidewalk that borders the flower bed. Does anyone have any suggestions- need something that will only be about 3ft high and ideally, upward growing more than out. And of course, shade loving and evergreen.

I have a beautiful rosemary plant that only gets about 4 hours of full sunlight (max) a day.

Here is a site that I have used to determine which plants will work well in the Metroplex. It has a very good search feature and is quite informative.

http://www.txsmartscape.com/search_main.asp

Great site Jrosto, thanks for posting it!

I have a really shady area and I have put in Arillias whick may get a little tall for you. My second favorite is Hossip ( St. Johns Wort) A beautiful plant that is evergreen weepy and grows beautiful flowers. I love them I have two and they are 4 years old and about 3 and a half feet. I guess you could prune them. I have some holly fern at the end of the bed. good luck