Your comments about this getting frost because it is a low spot would make me concerned about whether the Blechnum gibbum will do okay there. I love the fern, and also use it a lot here in the SF Bay Area, but it is tender, as is the Asplenium bulbiferum. Other ferns that would look good there in combination might include Blechnum occidentale, Pellaea rotundifolia and Polypodium aureum 'Glaucum'. I also like to mix in bromeliads such as Neoregelia 'Raphael' or Billbergia 'Diane', Aechmea nudicaulis or Aechmea gamosepala. Some plants to provide some lighter green contrast might include Oxalis spiralis aurea, Acoris gramineus 'Ogon' or Carex oshimiensis 'Evergold'. Sedum palmeri also works wonders as a pale lime green ground cover to knit things together in sun or shade, and Aeonium canariense v. subplanum also likes shade and does well with more moisture loving plants. Lastly, a taller growing Carex with great reddish orange showy seed heads, Carex baccans, thrives in deep shade, and combines well with ferns/bromeliads. Some of my favorite Cycads to use up here because they actually grow under cool summer conditions would include Lepidozamia perofskyiana and Ceratozamia mexicana. Your possiblilities for Cycads would be far wider, as you get more summer heat. Understory palms might include Arenga engleri, Chamaedorea elegans, C. microspadix, C. radicalis, C. tepelijote, or check out the offerings that palm grower Phil Burgman has.

I'd be prepared to protect/cover your Blechnum gibbum 'Silver Lady' ferns if you drop much below 29F in this spot in winter, although they are trunk hardy to 27F if for limited duration of freezing temps.

Thanks, bahia, I knew you'd have some really great suggestions :-) I've printed out your message and I'll do some checking out of plants online, then hit my local nursery. Forgot all about putting bromeliads down there, I have several already both above and a few below in this area, but that's a great idea. And I didn't know Carex liked the shade!! It's really hit and miss with the frost at my place. For example, I have several Cardboard ferns (Zamia furfuracea) around my house. All about the same distance from the house. The ones on the south side were fine. The one on the east side froze and died. That whole east side of my property apparently has an aquafer that runs downhill (the entire street slopes downhill from north to south) and because of that, plus the cold air tumbling downhill as well, the east side, and lower south portion tend to be quite a bit colder than the rest of my lot. Very strange, I have my very own microclimates on my lot :-) I thought about this when I bought these two ferns, and I'll toss a cover over them next winter if we get temps down below 32, which we do get occasionally (3 times last winter, in fact).

Patty S.