I am intrested in the Corkscrew vine + pink pampas grass plant. I have some shade loving perennials. Persian Shield plants in 1.22 pint sized pots. Coleus plants in 1.22 pint sized pots. A dogwood tree in a 2 quart sized pot. A native azalia bush in a 1.22 pint sized pot. Hope you will like to trade! Dustin Morgan

I have Italian alum and hardy cyclamen. Both will grow under trees. The alum can be invasive here but shouldn't be in your climate. These are both fall foliage plants. The cyclamen will bloom in fall and is a pink bloom.

Most of the plants I mentioned aren't evergreen, and they weren't meant to be prescriptive in any event. You should check out what your local nurseries have available, see what you like, and research their eventual shapes in a shrub book or on the internet. I'd say deciduous shrubs would be nicest in this setting, but your taste may dictate otherwise. I will add my mite too to the question of whether your conditions "qualify" certain plants to grow in the situation you are working with. What you need to understand in order to evaluate plants for this area is why various plants need the amount of sun or shade that is recommended for them, and what will happen if they don't get it. To some extent trial and error is the only way to learn this, but you can also learn the horticulatural principles to improve your ability to guess which plants will succeed. For example, most shade plants are adapted to catching as much light as possible in a shady environment. This is why many of them have big leaves. And they tend to prioritize surface area over leaf thickness, as they aren't faced with dessicating sun. So when you put shade plants in too much sun, the leaves are prone to burning and scorching, and they tend to wilt. Sun plants, on the other hand, have adaptations that allow them to resist heat, and they get leggy and don't bloom if they get too little sun. Obviously there are endless variations of leaf size and other attributes. For example, as someone mentioned above, there are hostas that actually want and need a certain amount of sun. And there are plants that are adapted to grow in the shade of deciduous trees, so they bloom in early spring when they get sun, and go through their leafy phase during summer. Some plants can also adapt to local conditions. For example, if the shade is really heavy and dense, as in the shade of a house, shade plants will grow their leaves extra big. But such a plant will be extra-sensitive if you change its conditions in mid-season or maybe if it gets a mid-day blast of sun. The conditions recommended on plant labels are only a guideline, and there are no guarantees that your conditions of partial shade are the kind of partial shade that a certain plant wants. KarinL

Hi Vera, I was born in Puyallup, WA. I'm sure you know where that is, but we moved to WI when I was a year old. I've been back there to visit a few times, but mostly to visit relatives in Tacoma. As I can recall, Eastern WA is much different than Western WA......Eastern WA much flatter? Anyway, about the weather here - you can expect anything and everything. Our summers can be extremely hot, in the 90's,or 100's, dry or humid, droughts and flooding, long cool rainy Springs that never seem to end, or so short we seem to go from Winter to summer. (Same for Fall) No matter what the weather is, the Hostas survive. And as Ken mentioned above, plant whatever you want, and if it doesn't do well, move it. Have fun experimenting. I know I will. Julie