I confirm: Pic. 1 is Dracaena godseffiana (sometimes D. surculosa) and Syngonium podophyllum (probably cv. 'White Butterfly'). Pic. 2 is a Dieffenbachia. (I think cv. 'Camille') Pic 3 is the Dracaena again.

Oh good grief! I am not doing too well with these. Sorry Angela. Thanks Flora and Saltcedar, just as well some of us know what we are talking about. Perhaps I should call it quits. Two mistakes in one day...ouch! Where does it say anything about Hong Kong BTW? Not that I would have said anything different, just curious.

Judy, In my estimation, nothing could be prettier than that old shade garden standby, _Aucuba japonica_, the "gold-dust plant." It's a gorgeous evergreen shrub that should stay within your five-foot height limit. However, I do think with the passage of many years, _Aucuba_ can exceed five feet. If it gets too tall, just clip a few limbs to use in floral arrangements. As you probably know, _Aucuba_ is easily rooted in water. At my house, I have a clump of five "gold-dust aucubas" at one end of the wrap-around porch. The clump of "gold-dust aucubas" is separated from a solid-green, narrow-leaved aucuba by a couple of tea olives, an August Beauty gardenia, a clump of _Musa basjoo_ (Japanese Fiber Banana), a _Musella lasiocarpa_ (Golden Lotus Banana), a 'Mine-no-Yuki' sasanqua, a 'Seventh Desire'sasanqua, and a creeping 'Fragrant Pathways' gardenia, plus a few root hardy tropicals, e.g., curcuma, _Alpinia japonica_, and Mioga ginger. The solid green, narrow-leaved aucuba came from Woodlanders in Aiken and is a beautiful, shade-loving shrub that should stay within your height limits for many years. Another fine shade plant that I've used in the foundation shrubbery is _Fatsia japonica_. It is marginally hardy in Zone 7B, but my plant has survived several winters so far. It makes a dramatic architectural statement, and with time, can grow to a large size. It produces other-worldy off-white flowers in the late fall. They're similar to the flowers produced on mature English ivy but much, much larger. The flowers will produce bluish-black berries if they survive the winter. However, the fruit-stalks on my plant were done in by the thirteen or fourteen degree Fahrenheit low they were exposed to a couple of weeks ago. _Danae racemosa_, or poet's laurel, would be another refined shade-loving plant that will stay well within bounds. It is extremely slow-growing and hard to find in the nurseries.

maya__ As a gardener with several Oleander plants, I was surprised to learn that a fatal disease, OLS, is infecting plants in AZ & So. CA. The plants are so toxic, that I never considered any insect would be interested! The suspected vector, the Glassy-winged sharpshooter, a leafhopper, is native to the SEUS and probably transmits other diseases in this area, but not OLS, so far! Are you removing and destroying the plants, as soon as the disease is recognized? Unless you have a source of cheap materials, wouldn't erecting trellises + plant material, be as expensive as planting shrubs? Sorry, but I wouldn't recommend Wax=leaf Ligustrum or Honeysuckle, as both are invasive pests in this area and I spend many hours each year removing seedlings from the garden. Why not a combination of plantings? Some narrow trellises, 4-6' wide x 8' high. I would recommend an evergreen, woody vine, that I use and like very much: Trachleospermum jasminoides, known in the South as Confederate Jasmine and used as a groundcover or a climbing vine on trellises, arbors and pergolas. Blooms in early springtime here and is very pleasantly aromatic. I acquired an attractive variegated leaf form last year and am testing it for hardiness in my Zone. Some shrubs that I use for shielding the off-premise Uglies, are Camellia japonica & C. sasanqua, Pieris japonica (green and variegated foliage types), Aucuba japonica (Variegated Gold-Dust plant), Mahonia bealei & aquifolia, Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Variegata' & 'Goshiki' (both very slow growing), evergreen Rhododendron, native & Japanese Hollies (Ilex species & cultivars), Callistemon sp., Illicium floridanum & I. parviflorum. To hide "bare legs", in cases where necessary, I have used Indian Hawthorn, Dwarf Loropetalum, 'Otto Luyken' Laurel, evergreen Azaleas, Carex and other evergreen perennials, plus dwarf varieties of Chamaecyparis pisifera and Yew. Since there is concern about the disease affecting economic crops there, maybe there will be a cure for it in the near future. Let's hope so!