My rosemary grows as large dense bushes, and it's definitely in the partial sun situation. It gets no sun until the sun tops a hug old oak tree to the east late in the morning, and there's a garage twelve feet to the west that shades it mid afternoon. Mint definitely handles partial shade. You're zone 8, as we are, although we get much hotter. You can probably grow just about anything that doesn't rigidly require full sun.
I make use of plumbago which does nicely and survives brief freezes. It's evergreen and blooms continuously in a beautiful blue.
We use crossvine and confederate jasmine (neither confederate nor actual jasmine, but Asian) to climb on wall and fences. Both are evergreen, and jasmine obviously smells nice. Both grow vigorously and do very will in Zone 8 and in part shade.
There are a lot of pretty roses suited to shade gardens. Note that the very popular Knockout roses have no real fragrance, if that matters. Gardenia will take mixed sun and shade days and do have real fragrance. For perennials in a shaded cutting garden, lilium, hibiscus, yellow foxglove, and ferns all come in infinite variety. Kids love to touch Woolly Lambs Ear. They're so tactile and will grow in part shade. It's an annual. There's no end of annuals available.
Probably nothing with berries, with a two-year-old around for a while.
