woodland plants

Started raining here in the middle of the afternoon, which shut down my gardening chores.
So I figured I'd use the time to post some pictures of some of my woodland plants.
The first 3 are from today.
#1 is Paris polyphylla.
#2 is Arisaema ringens. This plant is about 4 yrs old.
#3 is Myosotis palustris Unforgettable.
#4 is from last weekend, Calanthe discolor. It is supposedly marginally hardy here,
but sailed through last winter without a blink. Has increased nicely in size over 4-5 yrs.
#5 is a cute dwarf polygonatum with bright pink flowers, no taller than 5 inches.
Forms a short fine-textured groundcover in shade. Mine's only a couple years old,
so I'm not sure how effective it will turn out as groundcover, but so far I really like it.

Ooooooh, you always have such interesting pretty plants.
t just started pouring here too, so just like you I thought I'd post things.

Let's see them!

Nice pics! Were you on the ground again shooting photos? ;) Seriously, I've wondered how your gems do competing with the wild stuff. I've basically stopped planting in the wilder area of my gardens because I'd be out there trying to keep some of my thugs from overpowering more desired plants.

I am doing battle constantly with the jungle. I don't have any formal garden plantings. My entire 'garden' is woodland, since my entire lot is wooded. I lose lots of plants due to my lack of attentitiveness; you turn your back for a second and a 15ft honeysuckle shrub shows up! I just migrate each weekend from one crisis to the next. And then compounding the problem, I overplanted years ago, thinking I had spaced trees far enough apart, but now realize they're way too close. So my garden is a pretty chaotic scene. There's a reason my pictures are only of the specific plant or flower, not of an entire garden. If you take a couple steps back for a more panoramic shot, everything gets lost in the jungle...

Our woods are so different here. Not near the undergrowth due to the lack of water and humidity. I'm always looking for something the deer won't eat that I can put on the edge of the woods where I can water on occasion. Anyone have any deer proof suggestions? This year I just put in a bunch of feverfew, it's not edible and it will still flower with minimal sun.

I'm not familiar with the types of plants which would thrive in dry Calif.
I have tons of deer which seem to eat everything.
But actually there are a number of plants they don't seem to bother with.
Includes hellebores, stylophorum diphyllum (celandine poppy), ferns, dame's rocket (borderline invasive for us), woodland peonies, asarum, disporopsis.
This is just a few off the top of my head which I don't think deer have bothered.
I'm sure others will have different experience or better recommendations.

Thanks, wee, for explaining. My upper level gardens around the house get far more attention and I feel like I'm always scrambling in the lower garden farther away from the house to prevent my desirables from being overtaken. I think I started with a too-formal plan that's hard to maintain.

Thanks for the names, I'll look them up. I love peonies maybe I could get some of them going. Cindy I know the feeling. I have too much garden to keep up with. I'm trying to make my garden less time consuming, seems like I never have it all done at once, or even close for that matter.

Thanks for the pics Wee, pic #4 is beautiful and surprising that lived through the winter. I like pic #1 too, very nice!

Pic #1 is indeed stunning. That Arisaema as well. And you capture them so well in your pics.