Painted Ferns - the kindness of strangers

Well, not strangers exactly.....
I mentioned to my step-mother-in-law Julie that we were trying to fill in some shady gaps in the garden and within hours she showed up with ferns.  I was ecstatic to get some big ole ferns in to add some height and texture to the ivy beds on the north side of the house.  She also handed over a hosta which I promptly split in two and planted (you can see one of them along the fence below)
THEN, I walk over to her house the other day, and find two large cardboard boxes of japanese painted ferns!  For me!  Julie mentioned to her friend at work Gwen, that I was in need of some planting material and Gwen yanked some ferns out of her garden.  I hardly even know Gwen, but I find it so sweet that as Julie's friend, and fellow gardener, she went to all that trouble.  So nice!!
The painted ferns had a tough two days in their cardboard box, but I think they'll spring back.  Gwen says they are from the Scott Arboretum and aren't picky about their soil.  We'll see....

 Also note my astilbe blooming.  There is another one next to it, but it is pretty scrawny and it is unlikely that it will bloom.

Add some ferns and..voila!

View from the deck

I dug up some wayward ferns from around the backyard and moved them into the loamy soil where the side fence used to be.  I also split up a existing hosta into 6 mini hostas to hhelp fill out the area  Cheap and easy! 
Now, just one question: what do i do with the dry shade in front of the bed?  Try some grass?

New Planting on the North Side

After fenced removal - before planting

After fenced removal - before planting

After fenced removal - after planting

After fenced removal - after planting

I added hosta elegans, pink rhododendrons, hosta frances williams, Viva redhead coleus, and japanese forest grass.'all gold"

Added some asters

I moved another misplaced shade loving hosta out of the full sun bed and replaced with some shorty purple asters (Aster Dumosus).  I'll still need to move a couple more hostas from that bed, and fix up that wacky downspout and relocate that lavender a bit, but overall, once i weed out that morning glory, i'm pretty happy with this bed.  I'm thinking of adding some tall spiky perennial flowers.  Maybe....hollyhocks or monarda?