You didn't include the japanese climbing fern, which is said to spread rapidly here in Florida, but I haven't found that to be the case - it stays where it's planted just fine. It is a beautiful fern. I'm sorry, but I only have the one plant, but I'm sure if you add it to your list, someone will have extras.

I am in Mongomery County, MD, approx 30 min to NVA border. I tried the following, Blush Noisette, Madame Alfred Carrier, Crepuscule, Jaune Despres, Celine Forrestier. Blush Noisette and MAC were hardy enough for my zone. They both got defoliated from BS, but still kept growing and blooming. Out of theses two MAC was my favorite, always one of the first roses to bloom, great fragrance, good in a vase and just so delicate and rewarding. I lost my big MAC plant (10x10) to RRD disease and still fill sorry. I was willing to tolerate its summer nakedness for its wonderful spring display. Blush Noisette, was OK, but really not resistant to BS. I gave it away. Celine Forrestier, really loved flowers on this one. I tried it twice, one time grafted on Multiflora and one time own root. Grafted plant survived two winters, but was going down in size, not up. Eventuall it died. Own rot died in its first winter. Of all Noisettes this one was the most beautiful to my eye, but also the most succeptable to BS. Jaune Desprez - didn't survive its first winter here. Crepuscule, was growing and blooming well. This one is quite healthy. It survived fine several winters with significant dieback, but still OK. When it was already big plant (4-5 years), it suddenly didn't wake up for me in spring. I believe the main issue with Noisettes here is the temp. fluctuations. They are oK when the winter is cold (like this year), but often we have winters when really cold temp can follow by 60s. These roses never go completely dormat and these temp swings promote them to wake up. Next freeze period can kill them. Olga

I for one think everyone has had a great comment here, and I would combine the answers into one plan! If this were my yard, I would enlarge that paved area by about three times - at least out to the ac unit and out to the line of the downspout. I think having that paved area (whether it's concrete, stones, pavers, whatever) would just help define the area, and as it stands now that walkway is too tiny and utilitarian. A bigger area will give some definition to the area as an entryway, a sitting area, etc, and look better in scale to the house. Might even be nice to have a pathway connect from that to whatever other path/walkway you have in the yard. I can't tell from the photo if there is already one there or that is just dirt. I have three rain barrels, and love them. I should note that not a one is connected to a downspout, as DH won't hear of cutting into the downspouts, so I can only dream of the abundance of water I'd have if I did! However, even without that, mine do fill up slowly but nicely, and I do use them with watering cans, either dipped in, or under the spigot, as my barrels are on cinderblocks to give just enough height to get a watering can under. These rain barrels help me cut down on my well use, and IMO are a great idea in general in terms of water conservation. I'm not quite sure WHERE you want to put a garden - along the wall where the ac unit is? To the left of the photo where that bag is? Extending it out from the bag to cover that green area? Is that where the moss is? IMO, you can have a garden almost anywhere, if you have the right plant for the spot. I've put in a bog-type garden in an area where it floods every spring, and which sometimes has standing water well into August. Again, it's the matter of the right plant. Determine just how wet this area is, and do your homework researching plants that like that moisture level and the sun levels you have. Amending the soil helps, but do it as nature would - don't try to change the soil there, but enhance it. It will take some trial and error but I'm sure it can be done. There are many plants you can use. As for moss, I too don't understand why some people dislike it so much. I had a friend who I used to help in her garden, and we live in a very wooded area. She had a quite damp yard, and lots of shade and trees, and along the edge of the lawn she had these wide swaths of moss - a good 10 to 15 feet deep from edge of lawn to woods. She tried for years to get rid of it and get grass to grow. I always told her it looked wonderful, it was soft, green, and from a distance who could tell? She was constantly worried about the resale value of not having a lawn (and it's going on a least 25 years that she's been in the house and worrying about this!). The one downfall to moss, IMO, is that it does rake up very easily when you are raking up leaves, so that is a pain. But other than that, if its green and nothing else will grow there (in terms of lawn, not garden), then that is the plant to have there! I don't know. I guess I'm just a big believer in working with nature and not against her. Good luck and keep us posted on your evolving garden! Dee

What kind of trees are those on the slope? It makes a difference. Some trees play nicely with groundcovers and some do not. It looks to me like the trees are sucking all the fertility out of the soil with aggressive roots and you may not be able to grow much of anything under them. Or not, but at the very least, it looks like you need something to keep the soil from washing downhill and also some soil amendment and mulch. If the tree is Norway maple and the soil is dead and compacted, you aren't going to get much of anything to grow there, even the old stand bys.