I would also suggest the eleutherococcus. I have two, one closer to the silver maple (and under the canopy all day). Of the two, the one that is farther away is a bit taller, but both are holding their own and the bright leaves look nice in the deep shade. During last summer's really dry spell, I watered the one closest to the tree several times. This year, we've had so much rain that, even now, in mid-June, the soil in the maple's root zone remains damp. The shrubs I have now were planted as sticks in the summer of 2006 and are about 3' high. With more sun and more reliable water, they would grow a good bit faster. The one in my z5 garden was 5' tall by the end of its third growing season and was filling out well.

I know it's not much help to new gardeners to be told this but you do develop an ability to know how your plants are feeling after a few years. Something about the way they hold themselves and the surface appearance of the leaves tells you they are thirsty long before they wilt. And I don't personally think it's that bad if they do wilt sometimes. They can get over reliant on being babied and stop bothering to root deeply and go looking for water. Also some plants will droop naturally during the heat of the day (even over here!) and perk up at night. It's their natural behaviour and doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them. If you are short of water give it to your vegetables and let the ornamentals tough it out for a bit.

Re irawon asking what is the advantage of moving a hosta from a nursery pot to another pot: All of the plants I've bought were really nice healthy multi-eyed plants. The roots are the key to success when you grow hostas, in my opinion. I stopped buying hostas from big box stores years ago when I realized that those nice looking hostas they sold were forced to show foliage and flower so they would sell with no regard for root development. I'd bring them home and would find there were hardly enough roots to support the plant when I put them in the ground. I had even had to stake some so they wouldn't fall over. The plants I've bought this year were all on the verge of being root bound in the nursery pots. In that situation, with this weather I would water every day and the next day the pot would be bone dry. So repotting into a larger pot provides more space for root development, more consistant moisture, and cooler roots, which in my opinion means healthier hostas. When I have repotted I have added Root-Blast to the mix. Last fall I had bought a bunch of hostas. Rather than pot them I was in a hurry and shoved them into the ground. This year they look not much better than this years purchases. I am sure next year will show a different story, but I am using much more water on those young planted hostas than my potted ones. I just feel by potting the young hostas fair better when they don't have to be subjected to competition or predation by voles, bunnies, slugs, etc. The most common pest I find damaging my potted hosta are pill bugs. I found a colony in the bottom of every hosta still in the nursery pots, and holes in the leaf. They are not hard to control. Obviously I feel more comfortible doing this, this year. The other factor is I still am struggling with rehabbing from knee surgery and can tend my flock better when I have them close together in a convenient location. One final comment: within 2 days of repotting every one of the hostas have repotted into larger pots than their nursery pots have perked up from how they looked B4 being repotted. Les

Up & Up is the Target house brand and I bought their rinse agent once to try. Have used Cascade for the most part after it came with the old Bosch 9 years ago and I was happy with it. I did use the Up & Up brand DW detergent before I discovered the Oxyclean and tried it. Not changing the Oxyclean crystals -- that is the detergent and I will use that as long as I can find it. Even mail ordered some after Target and Kroger quit carrying it. Amazon and Wlamart had it online but not in Walmart stores. HEB now has it in Texas. So, Oxyclean crystals detergent and a rinse agent -- no tabs with multiparts. Works for me.