I have a small patch of Ground Cedar in the back corner of my yard. It is wooded in that area and shaded all day. What can I do to keep it and make it spread. http://www.ncwildflower.org/index.php/plants/details/diphasiastrum-digitatum/

I have always considered that one to be Lycopodium digitatum. A common name is ground cedar.

I can find quite a bit of the wild stuff, but certainly couldn't afford to send that much. Chicory, plantain, fireweed, Purslane, wood sorrel, Solomon's seal (false?), some type of gooseberry (wild ones, when I go to Idaho) Jerusalem artichoke, red alder, skunk cabbage--maybe, kinnikinnick, MAYBE serviceberry, wild ginger (certainly not 40 of them, though), possibly Oregon grape, bedstraw, burdock, not sure on monkeyflower, cascara, snowberry, all heal, yarrow, yellow violets, Virginia creeper, maybe nuphar polysepalus, wild strawberries (fragaria virginiana and chiloensis).

My understanding was that D. luxuriant was a hybrid of D. eximia (East coast) and D. formosa (west coast). In my experience it seems to be sterile. I've always thought people are better off picking the species native to their coast as both are spectacular without any modification at all. Also regarding previous messages above about Lycopodiums, I've noticed that in many ways these species are given a blanket "hands off" from most native plant enthusiasts and relatively hard to find in the nursery trade. I've even heard that some states have put blanket prohibitions against selling them. Just as views on growing native orchids are finally changing, I do wonder if there could be a similar revolution here. There are so many lovely Lycopodium and it shouldn't be hard for someone to do the garden science to figure out how to responsibly propagate and grow them. Unfortunately, I suspect that anyone who tries will catch the same amount of criticism that the first people who debunked the whole "all orchids need a special mychorihza" myth.