I am doing some landscaping near the house. I got these landscape timbers so as to keep the lawn out of the area near the house; grass does not grow well in the other area.I am putting in boxwood near the deck to hide the underside, on the other side of the house we will put in rhubarb. I am thinking of what kind of low plant to put in the area away from the house. Maybe heather, my wife thinks even ferns of which we have in abundance for free may be too high; she likes the view. What low plants that get maybe 50% sun or less do you think would work there? They have to be deer resistant.
Heuchera and hellebore are nice suggestions. The rest may not thrive in that much shade. I would add bergenia (aka pig-squeak ! ) , bleeding heart, primrose and pulmonaria.
After looking it up I see heather needs lots of sun so it is out. I will research all the plants suggested so thanks and any more ideas are appreciated.
Bleeding heart will grow in sun or shade, but you need to manage it. I have one that I can't kill and it keeps trying to spread. It isn't really short as mine is over 8 ft tall and it doesn't mind climbing over fences or other plants.
What about columbine?
ferns should work well and they won't take that much maintenance, just keep them from spreading.
IME, ferns are not deer resistant. Once I planted a bunch right beside the house only to find stubs and deer tracks in the area a few days later. Amazingly they left the hostas beside them alone. Whatever you do, don't plant creeping myrtle, periwinkle or whatever you want to call it. That stuff takes over and chokes out everything else.
What about trilliums, bloodroot, and other native woodland wildflowers? Foamflower and wintergreen both take shade. I'm not sure if they are native to your location.
Columbine would be nice. Bleeding heart doesn't act like that in cold winter areas where it dies back every winter. Doesn't get big and doesn't spread very fast.