There is hope! First, I recommend what Theryl said. Ferns and sorrel in the full shade. I might do ginger on my side yard but have not done so yet. I add ROCKS!. Dry river bed is a great way to add interest and it doesn't use water. Another plus, it can act as a swale. Follows is what we've accomplished in 10 months from nothing but trees and dirt to now. I am from TX and only gardened here for a year so I know something can be done. I'd never seen a redwood or anything so competitive. I am from the land of solid limestone and 90 days of over 100 heat; the land of 17 inches of rain in 2 years that only ends with flash floods that float your car; the land of thorns and poison and venom. I find redwoods every bit as challenging despite the beauty and 'lushness' of California. There's a reason redwoods are a surviving species! They are fit! Thanks to Kelly Marshall for guiding me at the beginning. We trimmed up our redwoods at our newly bought house that sit on a 45 degree pitch hill. Did so for light and fire. We have minimal soil, lots of redwood root competition, and little sun. Started with nothing but the trees. One part gets afternoon sun. In the "dark" I have dry riverbed and boulders with pockets for ferns that add interest. I have woodland strawberry that surprisingly works in a variety of areas. I have several native ferns up there. The competition was too much for native ribes and carpenteria even in the flats where the azalea has made it. The vaccinum ovatuum languishes as well. In the flats with dappled light I have azaleas in the ground and begonias in a pot and am considering a big pot with a Japanese maple. Anything within 7 feet of the redwood trunks on the hill struggle terribly. They suck up water like mad so go with plants that need minimal water. I hand water ferns once a week in summer and irrigate twice a week doing 3 rounds of short bursts each day of irrigation (2 days, 3 programs each day so as to not have run off on that hill. this hill is clay, My steeiest hill is super friable and another story) . In the areas that get afternoon sun I accent it with what will survive the competition: monkeyflower, Douglas Iris, Wayne Roderick Daisies, coyote mint. All pollinators as well. Have some manzanita to left as well as some full sun areas for pollen plants. CA agriculture has left us devoid of pollinators due to chemicals and non-natives. The succulent vignette is not with natives and was created by carving into the hill and stair stepping small shallow pond/fountain liners (Lowes), rocks and ferns with creeping geraniums (geranium macrorhizum from Berk. Hort) around it. The roots should leave the stuff in the pond liners alone but might the succulents might have made it without the protection - ? I just wanted to assure the planting was stable on the steep hillside. I wanted to assure enough aeration for succulent roots and I wanted planting pockets. Hope the photos show up well. As time goes by I will continue to experiment. Win some lose some but that's gardening. I am trying silver falls/pony foot/silver dichondra argentae (whatever locals call it) and succulents along the dry river bed. Just keep tucking and trying. Do NOT prune up redwood branches too radically or cut them down because they will strive to recur and grown tons of fronds from the bottom. Slowly but surely you will have something that excites you. AS for the guy that originally posted, hanging planters off the deck would help his situation. Don't always have to plant in the ground. Succulent vignette. The Douglas Iris is in front and has some brown leaves now. You can't see the blue green of the succulents but they excite the area and seem to get enough sun in the late day to make it OK. There are smallish boulders from American Soil supporting it all and hiding the pond liner. I can roll rocks but for the most part I used my husband. Dan Fix Landscaping installed my river bed (excellent).

For those of you within driving distance of West Palm Beach, Mounts Botanical Gardens are having their Spring Plant Sale Saturday, 4/15/11 and Sunday, 4/16/11. I wasn't able to attend the fall event, but their sales are usually pretty good. I did notice the last few times I attended that a couple of their regular vendors had dropped out......one of them my favorite Bromeliad vendor.......but there was still a good group there. I also noticed that the price has been raised from $5.00 to $10.00. Hopefully I will be able to attend this year......have another obligation sort of halfway pending for Saturday but hopefully I will see you there.

HEY GARDEN WEB FOLKS !!! JACK MORGAN and KIMI'S PLUMERIA is having a SALE !!! Here's the original post as posted on CRAIGSLIST !!! Kimis Plumeria Summer Sale Buy from a California Licensed Nursery August, 14,15, 16, 2009 9:00 AM To 4:00 PM All Plants and Supplies on Sale No shipping 2gal $15.00, 5gal start at $15.00 7gal start at $40.00, 15gal start at $50.00 20gal specimens start at $125.00 Adenium "Desert Rose" $10.00 Pachypodium Geayi and Lameri "Madagascar Palms" 1gal start at $15.00 Euphorbia Mellii "Crown of Thorns" Start at $10.00 Map & Directions: http://shopplumeria.com/Map-Page.htm HOPE TO SEE YA THERE !!! Rodney

I am a plumeria grower and I live in Alice. I purchased 1 each of several colors a number of years ago and then did a swap for 2 unknowns; I've been hooked ever since. When I was on Kauai a few years ago I collected quite a few sticks from around the island and brought them home with me. I've also gotten quite a few cuttings from a lady on O'Ahu who has a Yahoo group. She collects cuttings from around the island then sends them to group members who pay the S&H costs. I also got several plants from Tally today at the SA plant swap. I have none that are named varieties, or at least I don't know that I do. I'm not really worried about names as much as I am about beauty and variety. At present I have 16 semi-grown plumies (4-6' tall), the 3 plants I got today and 5 large rooted cuttings. Not a huge collection, but I'm just getting started. ;-)