I can't believe all of the responses, thank you so much! I'm saving all of them and am going to go through the suggested plants to choose some for the space. The area in question is rather dry, although this spring/summer has been on the dry side so far, so many of our garden beds are dryer than usual. I think this spot tends to get less watering from us because the one spigot in the front of our house hasn't worked since we moved here and it's a pain to drag the backyard hose all the way around to the front. DH has promised to get down in the crawl space and fix the darned thing before next spring, so hopefully with a well-placed soaker hose under a layer of mulch it will be more moist next year. In the event that the area does remain rather dry, are there any shade-loving perennials that will flourish in dry shade? The idea of having a tree there is intriguing, but I do think that the area is a bit small---one of my husband's pet peeves is trees that are planted too close to houses. The window there is pretty much our one and only 'view' from anywhere inside the house, so we'd like to keep it unobstructed. We also have so many trees in our yard (especially in that half of the yard), I think the idea of adding more makes us start to panic a little ; ) This is a horrid photo (I think it's from the realtor) but you can see the three huge trees on the right (one is a double-trunk); there is also an enormous maple directly behind the garage. http://pattycakedesigns.com/house6.jpg I'm not positive, but I don't think that the garden stays warm in the winter. We planted three hydrangea there last fall, and none of them made it through the winter. Maybe the freezing wind blowing in from the west hits full-on whatever's planted there? We live a block from the shore of Lake Erie, so it does tend to get pretty cold/windy here in the winter. I do like the idea of a birdbath or some other small structure there (I think our four cats would enjoy drooling from the windowsill), and I think we have one in the shed that we aren't using now. I saw one the other day that had been planted with annuals that were positively dripping over the edges of the bowl; I seem to remember DH moaning about having to scrub out the birdbath more than he liked, maybe if we don't use it for a birdbath per se we can use it as a focal point for some fancy annuals? Other than impatiens, what annuals grow well in the shade? Begonias? I've been trying to come up with some more ideas for plants that might look interesting through the winter (since it's winter here for about six months, or at least seems that way, especially when it snows in April). Any thoughts for anything other than holly? We're not big evergreen/dwarf conifer fans. We love climbing hydrangea (left one behind at the old house, I still mourn losing it); if I wanted to start one up the siding there to the left, what would be the best way to support it? I'm guessing the siding is too slick for it to hold itself up. A trellis? If so, how do you attach a trellis to the siding, or would you just anchor the bottom in the ground? My goal now is to try and get the unwanted flowers moved to the backyard somewhere so that I can hopefully plant some shade perennials here in the fall. I moved the Clara Curtis this morning (from the way it spread in just one year, I have a feeling it's going to take over whereever I put it) and am going to move those sickly-looking geraniums when we hack them back in a few days. I need to get that poor hydrangea out of the corner; would it be better to wait until fall to move it, or could I do it now? Thanks again for everyone's responses, this is all fascinating and so helpful! Amy Here is a link that might be useful:

Whee! That was so much fun! Thanks for hosting and organizing. :) Next year, I'll do better at labeling the things I know, and will definitely make sure to get there earlier enough to unload _before_ everyone is allowed to start picking things. It might also make sense to figure out some way to, say, limit people to 5 things in the first half hour or something, just so everything of one sort doesn't immediately vanish.

Hi Amazin , sorry I'm new at this web stuff ( mostly just a lurker) and couldn't find were I wrote to you the 1st time ... me feel so dumb with this puter stuff... but yes I have 9 begonias and 6 are from Logee's, some are named and other are ( pass a along's ) ..... Named ones= Begonia " Richardsiana" B." Snow Capped " B. "Tea Rose" B. "Hot Tamale" B. "Good and Plenty " B, "Tiny Gem " B. " Silver Queen " The Richardsiana has in pass week took a big flop , and so not sure whats up with it , taken it back into house , hope it was just heat stroking from 100 + daze we have been in for pass couple of weeks here in nastyville , so not sure about it. Two other's unknown named ones but pretty just the same and last one I think mite be B. " Sophia Cecile " not sure. I see you have " My Special Angel " have been looking at it in the catalogs . sorry I'm so long winded.... but sure there must be something in your long list that we can work with . P.s. I wont make it to any plant swap so..... not sure how we would do this if we've a mind to ???? But thanks for your time and effort if thats the only way .

plant it now.. because it has a sprout on it. Anytime something has a sprout, it needs to go in ASAP. If you allow the sprout to die, it won't come back. Then in the late Fall, after the first frost/when the leaves dry up and turn brown, dig it up (bulb)- and store it in a brown bag in a cool place (under your kitchen sink) garage, etc. I made the mistake of picking up several bags of daylilies with sprouts, waited a little too long to plant (sprouts dried up) and then the roots did nothing. I should of planted them right away- but had too many pet health issues. Gardening was put on hold. ;( Basically treat an elephant ear like a canna bulb. They will multiply- and always dig them up after the first hard frost, and the leaves turned crispy.