Wow, thanks for the recommendations to all of you. I do like the idea of Ribes, it has flowers similar to fuschia and the birds will love it. Many of your other recommendations I planted at my parents' home during the last few years, so I can easily make cuttings. I might have to grow some of those full sun species in pots up on our balcony where some spots get full sun year round. Carpenteria may be nice, too. Some white to brighten up the shady spot. Calycanthus is a nice flower morphology, and I love the fragrance of it. Yerba Buena would be a nice groundcover under the trees by the street, and again, I like that it has fragrance. It will like the fog in Summer, too. Phacelia campanularia is one of my favorite flowers, the blue color is amazing. I only worry about the kids in the neighborhood touching it, it gave me a pretty bad dematitis a few months ago when I collected seeds from them. I've been trying to estimate how much sun that area will get in the peak of summer, in June. I think one strip will be filtered/dappled shade, and half of one will be in direct sunlight for a few hours when the sun is highest in the sky. The Las Pilitas site is basically my encyclopedia for getting info about plants, especially their hummingbird and butterfly plant lists. That, google image searches and the online Jepson manual. And even though they aren't natives, I've always wanted to grow Hellebores, so maybe that will go in somewhere too. Thanks again, and happy gardening.

On the deck, so you want it in a container, right? I have no experience with this, but regarding hardiness, I planted three kinds of shrubs this year and late last -- honeyberry/haskap (Lonicera caerulea) from a local farm that specializes in hardy perennials, and from the local soil and water conservation district, I got some service/june/saskatoonberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) and some Viburnum trilobum. Their leaflet with a variety of ornamental and native shrubs (and trees) is here: https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/t31.0-8/1796752_708750435844505_1611309120_o.jpg For a more ornamental, smaller shrub, I see beautiful Dwarf Flowering Almonds in many places (Prunus tenella), so there clearly is a variety hardy to zone 2. (I also see it listed as Prunus glandulosa or trileba, so I'm unclear about the species and varieties available.) Here is a link that might be useful:

Jen, thanks for the links. I've got GNPS bookmarked, but unfortunately, just about everything they do is based in Atlanta and I'm about two hours away from Atlanta. I will try emailing them, though, and ask if they've considered expanding some of their plant sales and plant "rescues" state-wide. :) The landscaping for birds link was very helpful, thanks! Von, I'm in the suburbs. I've got a large yard, as suburbs go, but it's nothing that would support more than four or five large trees, and it's already got three large pine trees, and a pear tree and a peach tree that were here when I moved in. I'd really like to add some kind of large hardwood, but there's just not enough room for a canopy size tree. My next choice is the understory trees/large shrubs, so in that line, I've got a shrub dogwood, a chokecherry, a hackberry, a mulberry, two young pawpaws and I'm trying to find a good serviceberry to add. I want a species or cultivar of serviceberry that won't get more than about 20 feet high at most and that won't require much care as far as keeping it disease free. I might be able to add a small cherry tree, too, but that would be about the limit of trees I could fit in the yard. I already have two viburnums and three more on the way in the spring. I've tried to grow two elderberries and they both died; I don't know what the problem is, but I'm not going to try elderberries again, at least not for a few years. I'm adding a couple of blueberry bushes and some muscadine grape vines very soon, and I've got an eastern ninebark coming in next month. The only other shrubs I have are lantana (the birds keep planting more), turk's cap, beautyberry, a huge gardenia, Joe-pye weed, butterfly bush, some bush hibiscus, a Clerondendrum, and some roses that were here when I moved in. I don't particularly care for roses, but these have been mostly behaving themselves and providing the occasional rose hip for the birds, so I've left them alone. I'm planning to take the butterfly bush out this year (since I recently learned it's considered a minor invasive in GA) and replace it with some kind of native similar in wildlife benefit. I'm looking for ideas of what types of birds (and other animals) like what types of plants, so I can have a good variety in my yard. I do have a little more room for planting perennials and vines, since I can fit more of those in together, and I've got some seed producing perennials and nectar producing perennials and vines already. I'm planning to add more natives this year and get rid of some of the non-natives that were here when I moved in two years ago. When I moved in, the yard was practically useless to most wildlife, nothing but lawn, roses, boxwoods, and the pine trees and pear & peach trees; most of the species of animals that were here were invasive pests. There were only a few species of birds in the yard on a regular basis and about half of those were exotic pests. I've been slowly changing out the pest plants for natives, and hoping the animals will follow suit in time. It was quite a change from my previous house, which had over 40 species of birds, several species of reptiles & amphibians, dozens and dozens of insects & spiders, and about a dozen mammal species on a regular basis. That yard was even smaller than my current one, but it was a much more natural setting and it had been long established. I hope this yard will build up to that level over time.

based on the nice hack tree next to it [love that bark] ..... i know whose butt the seed shot out of .. lol ... and i would bet on the seedy wild bramble varieties ... blackberry or rasp ... if you want some nice black or raspberries.... buy some good varieties .. and plant then in sun ... the ones the birds drop are usually very small berries.. with huge seeds ... both in size and amount ... all that said.. looking at the area in general ... if all your looking at is a natural area ... leave it there ... just dont bother moving it to prime space ... not many 'free' plants.. end up valuable ... ken