What to grow in Zone 5 sandy soil?

My Mom needs some help with landscaping her sandy soil yard. We are seeking shrubs, perennials or ground covers that do well in sandy soil. She only gets 1/2 to zero sun (depending on the area) as the yard has alot of scrub oak and pine trees her husband won't let her cut down.
Is there anything that could possibly grow well in these poor conditions?
Since she is elderly she won't be able to spend alot of effort on soil conditioning, like adding compost every year.
Thanks for any advise.

Hi Cottage_Rose, you might have better luck asking this question in the Shady Gardens forum.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/shady/

I'm rather new to gardening and so I don't have any ideas to help you but I've gotten a lot of help with shade planting for my clay soil in that forum. They may not see this post here but I know if you posted there you'll get lots of good advice.

Thanks for the tip! :)