mnwgal - the backyard here is well shaded! Fortunately, I like shade/woodland gardens :-)

t2d - the astilboides definitely likes lots of moisture! The ones I've tried elsewhere in the garden where there is less moisture are pathetic in comparison. In fact, I didn't notice them when I walked around yesterday so they may have disappeared altogether.... I'll keep an eye out for them when I'm out there later today. The ones in the north alley grow where a downspout from the gutters runs under the path and then emerges by the fence. The neighbour next door also directs water to then from one of their downspouts. That makes a nice damp spot for them in a fairly confined space so I think that helps keep them from spreading too far if they were inclined to. The leaves get huge and I love big-leafed plants. I've posted lots of pictures of them over the years but here's one from June 2 last year showing how big those leaves get:

We planted the Wolf Eyes dogwood in 2011. Most of the soil here is heavy clay. But where it is planted turned out to be an unexpected pocket of sand! So it has struggled, I think, with too dry soil as well as a number of bad winters. It was also a balled-and-burlapped tree and I find they don't establish as well as a smaller tree in a pot. So I will be looking for a smaller pot-grown tree to replace it, and plant it in a different spot.

sandyslopes; cearbhaill - the logs along the fence in the north alley are in effect the edging that makes a narrow raised bed along the fence. The soil there is largely formed from the sod that was removed from the alley when I made the garden areas there - we just piled the sod upside down along the fence in the fall, covered it with newspapers and fallen leaves,put the logs down to hold it all in place, and let it all rot down for the winter and planted it the following spring (2006). Elsewhere in the garden I use logs as 'nurse logs' to hold moisture and provide nutrients for plants in dry conditions. I think it might help the red trilliums if I put a log or two in the area where they aren't doing so well.

Ken - the black dog is our miniature poodle. His color is called 'blue' - described as 'faded black denim' :-) He's a 'failed' service dog - he failed out at the end of the puppy foster period due to 'resource-guarding issues' (he will snap at other dogs who get too close to 'his' cookies!). He's large for a mini so he may have a bit of standard poodle in his breeding. They breed their own dogs and they need a range of sizes to suit client needs. As you can see from his tail, they do not dock the tails on their poodles! Poodles often have the most amazing spiral tails! It's a shame that it is common to dock poodle's tails. Sometimes breeders donate dogs to the facility and those ones usually have docked tails.