Fatsia japonica anchors this planting with year-round structure. Its deeply lobed, glossy leaves are among the boldest in a Pacific Northwest shade garden — large enough to read from a distance, evergreen enough to hold the space through winter. It will exceed 6–8 feet at maturity, but responds well to cutting back if a smaller footprint is the goal. Hosta 'Sagae' steps down in scale without giving up the large-leaf idea. Wide, blue-green leaves edged in creamy yellow emerge in spring and hold through the season. Lavender flowers arrive in summer. Both the fatsia and the hosta tolerate dry spells once established. 

Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' and Heucherella 'Stoplight' fill the front of the planting with foliage that earns its keep before a single flower opens. 'Plum Pudding' is a deep, rich purple — solid and saturated, a good foil for the yellow-edged hosta and the chartreuse weigela. 'Stoplight' comes in from the opposite end of the spectrum: bright yellow-gold foliage marked with dark veins, especially vivid in spring. The two play well together, and both complement the bolder foliage behind them. In late spring both send up airy flower stems—creamy white from the heuchera, white from the heucherella—hovering above the foliage in a way that reads well against coarser companions. 

Weigela florida 'Olympiade' bridges the scale between the fatsia and the lower perennials. Its chartreuse-gold foliage is the combination's brightest note and holds all season; deep pink-red flowers arrive in late spring just as the planting is fully leafed out. Astilbe chinensis 'Vision in Red' arrives in midsummer with upright wine-red plumes and finely textured, ferny foliage—a contrast in texture to everything else in this group. Astilbe performs best with consistent moisture; site this combination where water is reliable, especially through summer. Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei' threads along the front edge with magenta-pink flowers from late spring through much of summer and deeply cut foliage that turns crimson in fall. 

Using this combination: Best at a woodland edge or in a north- or east-facing border with bright, open shade. The astilbe sets the water requirement for the group—even moisture, reliably. Plant the fatsia with room to develop, the hosta and weigela at mid-height flanking it, and the heucheras, heucherella, and geranium woven across the front.