Another source for plants is the Sunset Western Garden Book. They have a section of several pages of plants suggested for shady places along with their zones, water requirements, etc..

Better Homes & Gardens has some plans on their website (bhg.com). You have to join but it's free. They may not be using plants for your zone, but you might get a layout idea there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Better Homes & Gardens

We live in the same zone so I think the plants that are doing well in my shady garden should work well for you.

Nandina (I know a lot of people are tired of nandina - but I like it at the back of the garden bed. The texture is lovely and the red berries in the winter give you color when everything else is not doing much. They take a long tme to get going - like at least three years before they get any real height in the shade). Japanese arelia, acanthus, aspidistra, heuchera, feverfew, helleborus, campanula, lamium, coleonema (breath of heaven), Oriental lilies.

Some of these plants will go dormant in the winter, but none freeze in my garden. There's a wide variety of texture and color in both the foliage and the flowers. Hope this helps. It'll at least give you a good start.

You can try special nandinas instead of the typical, there are dwarfs, red, thread leaf. Hostas do well in shade and I have some planted in the ground in pots and they are 5 or 6 years old. We freeze in Napa too.

Penny

Dichroa is similar to Hydrangea but evergreen with lilac flowers and more upright, not so rangy as hydrangea.

Sarcococcus- sweet boxwood has a wonderful smell when it blooms in spring.

I have a wonderful carefree Plectranthus that for me is 5', evergreen, with lovely lilac sprays of flowers.

Brugmansia does well in shady places, as of course does Helleborus.

I'm still waiting (2 yrs) for my sarcococca to actually bloom. It had what looked like the typical tiny flowers this year but they never opened and gave off no fragrance. But I continue to hope, as others have said theirs took a few years. We have Nandina and like it very much---just please don't carve it into blocks! It is so nice and airy and graceful when left to develop its own habit. How about camellias? Maybe they wouldn't like the temps, I don't know.

Anyhow, if you DO want to see snails, I hear hostas are the best way to bring them running! As it were. ;)

I have found many garden plans in books at my local library. Many of the garden magazines I've picked up for 10 cents at library sales have pre-planned gardens for whatever exposure, soil and climate you need. Some are basic but others go beyond the typical and are quite lovely. Beautiful vignettes from gardens can often be found in Sunset magazine that you could copy or use as inspiration. My local garden club has a garden tour every June that showcases various gardens, many with shade. Good luck.

Many nurseries (not box stores) have covered areas where they keep their shade plants. It would be nice to go and browse through the section. Most plants have either a tag or an informative label re: height, care, hardiness, etc..
Or you can just make a list and come home and research the plants in the western garden book/internet/etc.

There are also on-line nurseries (Plant Delights for one and there are others) that have an easier to use on-line catalogue with pictures and info right there.

That said......in addition to those already mentioned, other. classic shade plants include:
Azaleas
Camellias
Ferns
Japanese Maples
Fuchsia
Abutilon
Japanese Anemones
Liriope
annuals such as impatience, primrose, begonias

Coral bells do great in dry shade. You could go with the natives or the hybrids that you can find in places like Armstrong Garden Centers.
-Nate

Coleus, Magilla Perilla, White Nancy and Violets are doing great in my shady spots as well my assorted ferns.

I have a large shade garden, started as a pet memorial. Different parts of it get differnt levels of sun, but for the most part it is shaded. I have beautiful Australian and Tazmanian tree ferns. The frostt does make them die back but even when we had 17 degree weather several years back they always came back in the spring. Other things I have are:
Japanese harokone grass - think I spelled that wrong
Liriope
Abutilon
Azaleas
Hostas
Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday
Rubharb
Huchera
Japanese maple
ferns
hydrangea
Viburnum
Baby Tears

My favorite combo is a Sum Substance hosta with the Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday behind it, azalea below and harokone grass on one side. If I could have only one hosta it would be the Sum Substance! It is about 3 ft tall and wide and the most gorgeous lime green leaves!

My garden is edged with moss rock, and baby tears cover a lot of the open spaces. I added a lot of Huchera this last fall, Palace Purple, Amber Waves and a new one called Key Lime Pie. I add annuals here and there for more color, and yellow white and orange seem to look the best and brighten things up.

Seems to me that many things that like the shade and maybe cooler temps can take it here if they are kept watered. In the 100 dergree weather I water mine daily, for a good 30 minutes, as it is a raised mound. Works great for me. Good luck with yours!

I have vinca growing under my gigantic pine tree. It handles shade, pine needles, and does well with drought. Although it stays green with drought, it needs more water to flower. My hosta did awesome under the pine tree but the snails loved it too much. The snails don't seem to bother the vinca though.

Okay, I'll add my shade favorites, too!
upright fuschia
caladium
abutilon
japanese aralia
brugmansia
hosta

You mention that there's earwigs and ants, but no snails. I would just keep an eye open once those shade plants ---esp. hosta--- get planted. Kind of like the phrase, 'if you plant them, they will come'--- the snails, like other pests, will likely appear as soon as they have a food source.

Good luck and welcome!

For groundcover, I've had good luck with a chartreuse lamium (dead nettle). It really lights up a shade bed and seems to do well year-round. In the spring and summer the kind I have also has cute little purple-pink flowers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chartreuse lamium

I am testing a rose recently purchased that is tagged to be grown in SHADE. If it does well this is one I will be propagating!! Al

mzmercury, why don't you also tell us what you were growingin OC that you loved, and some of us can tell you whether or not those same things would do well for you in your area? Unless you have super delicate plants that can't take heat or even light frost, many of them might work just as well. A lot of the standards that people are recommending can be found in both areas.

Where in z9 are you? City or county would help us give you more specific suggestions.

The following are doing well in the shadier parts of my garden:

Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea)
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus & mollis)
Foothill Sedge (Carex tumulicola)
Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)
Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
California Fescue (Festuca californica)
Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana)
Meadowrue (Thalictrum fendleri)
Oregon Grape (Berberis aquifolium)

Please, to Arvind------I love my meadowrue, but am not sure how to care for it. The foliage is perfect, strong and tall. Blooms are brief. Do yours rebloom, does pruning back in spring help more blooms, etc?

Theresa:

I cannot support the choice of Hostas enough. You will never run out of choices and for selecting them for your yard they will thank you by being tough, pretty, long lived little soldiers that you can divide and fill your bed with. The the Hosta Library link I will try and leave below. Also, to cut down on research time for you, you might check out Wayside Gardens garden kits. They had offered earlier this year for less than $100.00 something in the order of 16-21 plants that come as a package for your shade garden. www.waysidegardens.com. Hope this helps.

Kate

Here is a link that might be useful: Hosta Library

You got me thinking of my own neglected shady areas, so I went surfing and found this: links with info http://www.californiagardens.com/Lists/Dry_Shade.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: dry shade lists

Go ahead and plant lamium maculatum -- there's not only the yellow-leafed variegated type but also a white leaf (has a thin green edge) that flowers in either white or purple. I prefer the purple flowers as it contrasts more and is a real knockout. It will take a surprising amount of dryness compared to the yellow-leafed type.

The lamium you should NEVER plant is lamium galeobdon, AKA Yellow Archangel. It is wildly invasive, and you need to be careful where you are because invasives can escape pretty easily into the hills.

What's wrong with a little cold? How else can you grow peonies and tulips and delphiniums?? Not to mention apples, cherries....it's a long list.

Theresa -

{{gwi:540345}}
Learning a new plant palate can be a bit daunting. Consider check out resources that are specific to your situation. Here is a link that you might find useful:
Plants for dry shade
You might also check out the Arboretum at University of California Davis, or the McConnell Arboretum at Turtle Bay in Redding (I am not sure where in the Central Valley you are). Here you can see first hand what plants are growing in a climate similar to yours (an extreme expression of the mediterranean climate - hotter/drier in summer, colder in winter).

Regards,
Sean O.

Here is a link that might be useful: hortulus aptus - a garden suited to its purpose

Al -- how's that shade rose doing?

Jen

Jenn that rose labeled SHADE is mislabeled. It will tolerate some shade but not much. When I next visit Annie I hope to discuss this with her and Ms Lettunich the source of this rose. It is a nice rose and I have potted it up until I find a good location to plant it. Al