Expect erratic germination, seedlings will not appear all at once. Collect the 'fruit' Fall into Winter, then clean fresh seed and provide with moist cold 30 days. Followed by surface sow or barely cover with grit to allow in some light while helping with the moisture issue, keep on the cool side, 55 - 65F. Easiest, surface sow, cover with grit or fine aquarium gravel, place the containers outdoors exposed to weather in our climate. Let mother nature provide the chill and cool Spring. You may have to place a length of chicken wire over the seed pot to discourage foraging sparrows.

Yes, salal normally grows in a wide variety of environments, from deep shade (always from conifers in the wild) to full sun, and summer-dry soil to soil that never is all that dry. In sun or in dry soil it tends to be shorter than otherwise. Sometimes a stand will have a lot of leaf spot, while other stands are clean. I don't think your salal being under conifers (I presume you mean conifers when you say evergreens) has much if anything to do with the leaf spotting. Spotting may be worse this year than others due to the cold wet springs two years in a row,, and last year's total lack of a dry summer, which most fungi love. But maybe yours is spotted every year regardless. My salal, what little I have here, is under a mixed bag of conifers, madrones and maples, never ever gets watered, and some has spots and some doesn't. I have to look to find clean stuff for flower arrangements but I always can find something clean. 8ft tall is pretty tall. You might try, as suggested above, to cut some of it down shorter, and see if the new growth comes out clean. It might need some rejuvenation. If that works and you cut some back every year then you'll reduce the amount of leaf spotting without having to cut it all back at once. Don't try irrigating or fertilizing it, that's totally unnecessary for salal, and the extra nitrogen and water on leaves might make the spotting worse. If it's 8ft tall it's a pretty old, well-established stand. My salal might be about 40 years old and it's only 2-3 feet tall. It is a fantastic habitat for attracting birds, isn't it? the towhees and sparrows love it.

Common snowberry would probably grow, provide winter color. Your conifers are likely to be mostly Douglas firs. Salal, Oregon grape, evergreen huckleberry and ocean spray are typical associates on sites tending towards dry. Ceanothus (C. velutinus) and manzanita are found on the hottest, most exposed and/or sandy sites here. Columbia manzanita is so prone to spotting and blackening of the foliage that it is not really a satisfactory ornamental on the whole. There ARE some old ones in local gardens here and there, on rockeries and in other exposed positions. Often when examined up close the foliage is infested. Indian plum is characteristic of floodplains and other places where soils become damp in winter. Red elderberry also prefers it moist and fertile, the lush look of many deciduous trees and shrubs and woodland wildflowers hints at what they want. All occur on sites less than perfect in nature, and can be readily coaxed into growing in gardens made not on sites they would be found on spontaneously using simple tricks like watering a little in summer or planting against a south-facing wall. Going on walks and looking at nearby undeveloped lots, uncleared portions of city parks and other places where there is still natural vegetation and noting what grows where could be highly instructive. Keep soil fertility and moisture regimes in mind, as well as light exposure. You can actually analyze a site using the native plants that are growing on it.

Crush a leaf and if it smells like wintergreen, it may be Gaultheria procumbens.