Hey Rachel,

First, welcome to GardenWeb. I'm sure you will find it a great place to learn more about gardening and to share you gardening experiences (or even plants and seeds).

But, this (the Seed Exchange Forum) is really, really, really not the place for this topic. There are many other Forums where you could choose to post, but this one is reserved for offering seed exchanges. Below is a link to the list of Forums. The Gardening in Shade Forum and the Woodlands Forums come to mind, but many others may be applicable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Forums

Though I don't know how they would do in California heucheras and hellebores do really well for me zone 7 (some say an 8). Both are a bit tricky to grow from seed but not impossible. Hope this helps.

I would plant impatiens and wax begonias. The only variety I remember is a wax begonia named vodka or whiskey. It comes in red, white or light pink flowers. They don't need alot of water, where the impatiens need more water. The light green leaf begonias do better in the shade. Happy Gardening! Sorry to hear you are having a blizzard! I am almost sweating today here. It is at least 10 degrees above normal.

I'm no expert, but you might check out Groundcover Forum. You have a lot against you:
-rocky soil
-shade, not full sun
-pine trees drop their needles and the needles are poisonous to many plants. I had to scoop out the years of pine needles to get the groundcover to root under mine.
You might look up Dragonsblood or ajuga. Ajuga wouldn't root for me until I got the needles out, though. Periwinkle? Stonecrop?

Thank you to all who posted plant suggestions. I am going to start researching these and try the other forums suggested. Again, thanks for all your help!