Thank you all so much for your detailed replies! Sorry it took me a bit to get back to everyone. gardengal48~I am indeed in CA--East Bay, with a desert-like micro climate but since we have in-ground sprinklers to keep the yard green, the spot I'm looking at stays pretty moist (since there's no sun to evaporate moisture). The spot is between the front yard and house, and is about 10-15ft wide by 4-6ft deep (I haven't measured yet, and don't think this would be considered "large"). I've looked up a few of the plants that have been suggested, and I like the idea of a low growing ground cover like the vinca minor, but want to avoid anything that is invasive and requires more than minor maintenance. I think what I'll do is make a list of what I like from the suggestions, and take it to a nursery to see what they offer for this area, and see if there is something I can plant in the next few months. I think it's good to have a list to go off of instead of walking in there and having to go with what they suggest (done that, didn't like the results).

I have a groundcover Sedum that is so tuff it'll grow on concrete without soil and I know it to be a fact because I have it growing on a concrete slab on an old well not in use anymore.I planted some around the well and it started growing on top of the slab without dirt,And it looks beautiful.It takes Heat,Sun,Shade, whatever you put it in, It will take.It has star shaped yellow flowers that cover the whole plant, it blooms the first week of June.If in full sun it will bloom for a long period, If in shade not as much, But it will still look pretty because of it's color and shape.If your are interested in any I would be HAPPY TO SHARE!! Just let me know and send me your address and off it'll go to your home!!Also I have a ton of Ajuga that is a pretty tuff plant as well.You can't hardly kill either one of these groundcovers and they are peferct for hillsides and slopes! Margie((Granny57)) Todays Memories Are Tomorrows Treasures May You Have Many Yesterdays!!!

Boston Fern - it's a native and will do well under and around palms with good irrigation. Macho Fern - non-native, but much larger than Boston Fern for that "jungle-y feel".

I second the suggestion for the dwarf nandinas - we have them in our south-facing front flower bed completely under the eave of the house, so they get next to no direct sunlight (and barely any water now that they are established) and are thriving. They're evergreen in our area and stay small (and are almost always available at Lowe's in the smaller sizes which are less expensive than the big ones. If you can stalk Lowe's and HD, they will clearance a lot of those types of things at the end of the season before they bring in the Christmas trees, so you can get a deal but I doubt you want to wait that long with the cat issues ... the skewers in your photo made me laugh - I can tell the situation is getting desperate!). You can see two dwarf nandinas directly in front of our windows in this picture - they're in the shade so look dark but in person they are kind of lime green and bright. I think nandinas alone might be kind of boring, but it depends on how "into" gardening you want to get as to how elaborate you might want to be. This first year as you wait for your shrubs to grow, you might want to plant some inexpensive annuals to fill in (coleus is a good one for shade and is pretty easy to grow from seed, although I've always done my seeds indoors in the early spring.) Golden moneywort is one of my favorite creeping perennial groundcovers, you don't need too many plants to get started and it will fill in and keep weeds down for you and it can get a little ratty in the winter but does stick around to some extent, so it's semi-evergreen. I'd add some seasonal foliage or flower interest with heucheras or variegated hostas. All those are in this picture with the hydrangea (which is definitely a thirsty beast!) I'd definitely add bulbs like daffodils that will bloom when there are no leaves on the tree. Lots of things can be divided from other gardens - do you know any gardeners in your neighborhood or do you walk your 'hood where you could maybe ask a gardening neighbor? If you end up wanting to go the liriope route (I do actually like monkey grass in a landscape, at my old house it edged all my beds, but it needs to be divided every few years to keep from taking over and it is physically hard to divide) for goodness' sakes don't buy any. Send me a message and you can bring your shovel to my house. I also would be able to share daffodils next spring - I'm not entirely sure where they all are this time of year. My hostas are still small and young (divisions from friends, all!) so I can't divide those yet, but I might have some other things to share if I walk around and look. Oh! And get some cat repellent. We had that problem when we moved into our new house about 12 years ago, with cats using our raised planter beds as a toilet, and I went to TLC for cat repellent - probably any nursery will have something like it. The kind I used smelled strongly like lemons and was a granule that came in a milk carton style container. You'd just shake it out over the soil and reapply every time it rained, and after a while the cats got the message. I dug out all the top 8 inches of contaminated soil and replaced it, but I am a germaphobe who tends to garden while gloveless. Then I planted new stuff and it filled in and the cats didn't come back.