Wow! talk about a man with a plan and tenacity to make it real! I love your construction. I'm assuming azaleas and caladiums mean you are looking for fairly low growing color in shade or part shade. That's my challenge too. If you are willing to start from seed and make annuals you might look at torena. Some begonias are easy to propagate from one hanging basket and would look great here and there. They might be hardy for you...I don't know. They are pretty tough. I have one variety in my greenhouse where other plants froze all around it and it is still covered with its fuzzy green leaves that have burgundy brown undersides. It bloomed all summer for me haning from the branches of a big old pecan tree. Persian Shield is one of my favorites, but it can get about 2 ft tall. I did mine up and haul it in for winter. Inevitably my greenhouse gets too cold and I am transplanting what looks like dormant roots in spring. They come back beautifully. Soooo, it may be happy to live in your landscape year round. I love the lollipop or shrimp plants. Again I have to haul them in and out...but they come out looking like sticks and come back to life. Again, they aren't really low growing but they may have relatives that are. pink polka dot plant is in the same category for me...might be hardy for you. I plant anemones and pansies and tulips in the fall where I had caladiums in summer. They need sun but I have sun until the trees leaf out. Don't forget amaryllis! They aren't just for Christmas anymore and they make a great show in spring while the soil warms for the caladiums. Certain daffodils and crocus return for me too. ranunculus are tubers and you can lift them when they are done blooming, allow them to dry and replant. Same with anemones. Some return on their own if unlike me you aren't always digging. I plant Sun coleus in part sun. It stays smaller an less color, but they root easily and one plant makes many if you're willing to take the time. I also plant pentas in several hours of sun. of course there is turk's cap, a returning staple for me is salvia black and blue and argentine skies. (I want to say that are gargantua...or something like that). Yes, you get more flowers in more sun but they are lovely with the tall red turks cap behind them and yellow lollipops in front. All this for a few hours of sun. what else...purple peppers are less purple in less sun but are surprisingly interesting with black to red ornamental peppers. Easy to save seeds or allow to reseed. Again a little sun goes a long way. rambling on as usual. If you've never seen Persian Shield search for it online. It loves the shade. will you promise you will keep posting pictures as your passion evolves???? Oh check out the Texas Garden forum if you haven't already.

Oh, I thought you were debating on digging them up with your 'round shovel' : ) Yes, your gardens are beautiful! I have looked at them before and am still very jealous of your hardscape: ) I would start your caladiums as soon as your can in pots inside. As soon as your soil reaches 60* I would pop them in the ground, in the pot or not. Maybe you can use pebbles or some other light 'mulch' where you plant them so in the fall you know everywhere you put this type of mulch you have bulbs to dig up? Or maybe you can use your drawing talent (which is awesome) and plot out where you planted them? Mine still do better in pots up here because it keeps their roots warmer. Do those ideas help? Keriann~

Kato, the ones I stored in bags, are like yours! All dry, light, and crispy. That leaves the ones that were left planted, but I doubt they are alive. The soil is very dry in those pots. I DID cut the leaves off mine. I did that first, then dug them a few days later. They were declining anyway, as fall temperatures got colder. I figured they had already gotten the signal to go dormant. They must be more easily dried out. The paper lunch bags (put inside a larger cardboard box) work well for my tuberous begonias. I will have to find out what is the right way to store these. Now I have to find more. Menard's had them at 4 for $5.50; that seemed like a lot to me. IS it? Plus they were packed in wood shavings in a blister pack, and you could not tell how large or small the corms were. If caladiums dry out that easily, I'd think wood shavings are not the way to go. Plus I really love the green and white ones I had last year, and Menard's did not have those. Home Depot, where I bought the White Christmas in a bulk pack of 18 last year, did not have them. HD had nowhere near the quantity/choices of summer bulbs they had last year.

for caladiums, i use those orange mesh bags that citrus from the grocery store comes in. i put the wood shavings in there, too, and hang them in my utility room from a cabinet doorknob. it is dark in this room and generally cooler than the rest of the house. i suspect it would also work for dahlias to treat them this way. just curious but do you have to bring the dahlia tubers inside where you live? when i lived in northern alabama (similar zone), we had those giant dinner plate dahlias by the back door and never brought them inside.