Moccasin, Yes I sent you that file as an example how I keep track of my hostas. I still use MS Excel, now in 2014 have more hostas, a bigger map, separate sheets for 'must haves', 2012/2013/2014 seedlings, chemicals in use, and a work plan. Excel is a neat package, even my grandson uses it. Powerpoint and Word are also part of Microsoft Office, mine is a 2007 version and still works. I have Excel and do not know which other program could be used to open it. But perhaps you could ask a computer geek at a mall, they might tell you. I loaded my son's copy of Office on my computer, so perhaps a computer store would load it on your computer for a small fee. Bernd

Slugs will make smaller holes in the middle of the leaf. Rabbits will leave curved bite mark on the sides/ends of the leaves. Wind will "shred", but that'd have to be some POWERFUL wind. Hail will pelt holes in them. Please POST pics.

Hmmmm, well, can you take a look down near the crowns of those plants? If you find round small balls like Osmocote near the base of the petioles, perhaps a few going up the pets? And, if when you grab the leaves the whole petiole comes away from the crown with no effort at all, then I think you might have southern blight, also known as stem rot, crown rot, whatever. Look it up for help with removing the blight from your garden.

Can you post a photo of the area? That often helps me with ideas. If you can find a low-growing rhododendron, that would give you evergreen, structure, low maintenance, and flowers. I have a Rhododendron 'Checkmate' that stays at around 3 feet without pruning. It's a small-sized member of the PJM group (Weston Nursery), so it looks like them with sort of mahogany winter foliage and magneta spring flowers. It gets perhaps 3 or 4 hours of sun and bright shade the rest of the day, and stays tidy and dense without any effort on my part. There are also smaller Rhodies such as 'Purple Gem' or some of the series that include 'Yaku Prince', 'Yaku Princess' or 'Ken Janik' which all grow slowly enough to keep in check without much effort. You can use the search engine I'm giving you a link to below to look for others in your size range. There are other Heath family evergreens (all acid loving like the Rhodies) that stay low such as some of the dwarf forms of mountain laurel, Kalmia latafolia, such as 'Elf' or 'Minuet'. Leucathoe is another that is native and mine haven't exceeded 3' in over 20 years. Some forms have variegated leaves. There are a few forms of andromeda, Pieris japonica, that stay below 4', and there may be some smaller, though since I can't grow these I can't give you much information. It might be a bit shady for best color with a ninebark, and I definitely wouldn't want a full-sized one there, but Physocarpus opulifolius 'Little Devil' is supposed to stay in the 3-4' range. Mine is too young to know if it really will, but perhaps T2D will add her 2 cents since she has some that are older. Microbiota decussata (Siberian Cypress) looks a bit like an arborvitae but is much shorter (1'-2') and completely shade tolerant. Some perennials that might look nice with the shrubs include sedges/Carex - many are variegated or have colored foliage Hakonechloa macra (Japanese forest grass, hakone grass) - variegated or gold, clumping, looks nice (tan) for at least part of the winter Epimedium - flowers and can be clumpers or spreaders Astilbe - flowers in the white/pink/red range and ferny foliage Pulmonaria - flowers in the pink/blue/white range and spotted to almost entirely silver foliage (check out 'Majeste' or 'Samurai') Heuchera - evergreen, many different foliage colors and many have nice flowers that the hummingbirds enjoy Also look at other hosta - smaller, variegated leaves, longer blooming. Here is a link that might be useful: American Rhododendron Society database