I've got a small shaded area (North side of house, lots of indirect light but only a little bit of direct light) and picked out some plants to go in there. I've never tried growing ferns before, but love the way they look so I bought a few. Of course, I did it w/o any advice - hope I haven't screwed up. Here's what I got:

1 Asparagus densifluorus - Meyers

1 Microlepia strigosa

1 Polystichum tsus-simense

and some non-ferns to go with them:

1 Palemonium caeruleum ÂBrise d AnjouÂ

1 Aegopodium podagraria Varegatum

1 Astilbe  Red

Baby Tears - gold colored (thought it would look nice under and around the ferns.

Any comments on this combination of plants or whatever would be appreciated.

Also, how should I build up the soil. The topsoil looks okay, some organic matter. Haven't checked the pH, but elsewhere in the yard it's a little on the high side (7.6). What I have to work with is:

1)compost (Kellog's N'Rich Compost - looks like mostly small redwood chips, I guess)

2)sand

3)mushroom compost (high pH of 8.1)

4)peat moss

5)composted steer manure

What combination of soil and ammendments would be best here?

Thanks