Small foundation border along footpath
(in my own garden)A narrow, north-facing border along a house wall with a public footpath on the other side. A border with year-round interest and plants that can mostly take care of themselves. I used mostly evergreen herbaceous perennials for shade & some woodland shrubs for structure. 
This border is inspired by a picture I saw of an evergreen border for a city front garden. I have long wanted to use Corten-steel in one of my designs and I particularly like the look of it with the bark of silver birch trees, which I have introduced here in the form of a log pile for structural interest but also as a habitat for wildlife.
The plants that are to be used in this border need to be tolerant of the shady aspect as well as dry soil conditions as parts of the border are within the rain shadow of the house. Both the fern and Epimedium are evergreen and the copper red leaf margins of the latter are in harmony with the Corten-steel edging.
The Japanese Acer is providing some height and a nice woodland feel to the Epimedium and Digitals (foxglove) growing below.