Thanks Esther. We had thought about doing a fern garden, but most of the ferns I researched seemed to need really wet soil - it sounded like almost swampy - except for hayscent fern which can spread rapidly and Dryopteris marginalis which I couldn't find in the plant stores I went to. The Christmas Fern is supposedly "drought and shade tolerant" so I thought I'd try that, and add the Dryopteris and any others if I found them. Just looked again and found that the Lady Fern is also drought tolerant. Of course the hostas need water too, but I'm not sure I'd be as good about watering an all fern garden as I would about a part hosta garden... The Norway Maple is coming down this fall - my neighbor okayed it and we'll be doing some other major pruning then. I don't really mind if the large hostas stay medium sized, as long as they survive. Oh - the other one I have for the area is June - I know the color will be more muted in the shade. Do you think the medium to small hostas will not survive? Part of the problem is that I bought so many new hostas, and couldn't find places for them all. So I'm willing to put these in the ground to try them out. We will also be doing the front of the house in the next year or two, so if they aren't doing well on the hill I would move them. But if they definitely won't survive on the hill I'll find another place for them now. The idea about the newspaper in the hole is from Making the Most of Shade by Larry Hodgson. The problem is the hole is supposed to be 4 times the root spread and 1 1/2 times as deep - I'm lucky if I get it twice the size of the pot the plant is coming out of. I'm going out to see if I can even dig in the ground up there. Will also start getting the soil away from the plants. I'll do all the trees and shrubs. What about all the hostas, ferns, astilbes, etc?

Hello Stephanie, Stan and Kawagoe, Here is my first bloom of 2017! It seems I will have only three of my 20 plants blooming. This is a cutting I got from a front yard in LA in 2015. I drive down there quite often and that is from where most of my cuttings come.....relatives, friends and strangers who like to share. Of the seven plants I ordered from Maui Plumeria Gardens last October only three are still among the living. I planted and kept them indoors all winter. These are the first plumeria for which I paid. I will try to go back to Maui in September and purchase a replacement for the Scott Pratt (red) variety. All of my other plumeria remained outdoors under overhangs during the winter. I planted a large four foot cutting into the ground a couple of weeks ago in Prunedale. I live in Santa Clara during the week which is warmer so I will definitely have to cover my newest addition over the winter. I'll keep my fingers crossed. It was a freebie from a very fragrant yellow plumeria tree in LA that some ladies gave me from their front yard. I'm sure your are all also enjoying your blooms........ Take care, Aileen

Annamaria- I would bring it out now in a zone 10 and give it a couple of tablespoons of epsoms salts (or sulpo mag if you have) worked into the soil or mixed in warm water, let cool a bit and water the plant. In two weeks I would fertilize with your growmore watering the plant and the soil and repeat every 10 days until leaves get over 6 inches and then use every 7 days. You may need to add some more epsoms salts in 6 weeks. I would pick up some spray-n-grow and spray as directed on leaves in between fertilizing. This is just a simple path to get bud formation as long as your plant is not root bound in a pot. Jack at Kimis has recommended some other growmore formulas which I am trying this year but I trust his knowledge. I have had good results with the above although I am sure there are better methods, if you can find sources of the products. Bill

I lived in florida 22 years and started a plumeria from "stick" form. It was beautiful and bloomed the second year, all of the plumerias I have, bloomed the second year from "stick'. When we move the NC I took my plumeria with me and it grew beautifully for 3 years. It was the talk of the neighborhood every summer. Plumerias have a dormant season here in the north and after the leaves fell off in the fall I put in into the garage to winter it. I would bring it out in the spring when it was still cool out (60 degrees and above). One time I left it out in the evening and it got just alittle frost on it....it did not recover...I was so sad. They definately do not like even a nip of frost. Hard lesson. I was heart broken. I have 5 plumerias now and all are beautiful and blooming. Plumerias are "feeders" they like fertilizer. I fertilize them 2x's a week...with VERY weak fertilizer. Hope this helps. I think consistant light feeding might do the trick. Good Luck.