We have a junky area on the side of our house towards the back that we've never done anything with. It was always on the moist side over there, but now after putting up a 6 foot fence gate, it's now almost always in the shade.

A local nursery suggested planting cephalotaxus fastigiata (upright Japanese yew), but the plants we bought are small and they're very slow growing, so there is a lot of room around them for growing something--but what? Any suggestions on what could go in a frequently moist spot that gets very little sun?

The nursery folks suggested violets but after reading about people trying desperately to get rid of violets, I'm not so sure--unless they would stay confined to that dark, moist area and not creep into the sunny parts of the yard.