The beginning of December has gardeners thinking of their own wish list for gift giving, and winter is the season for placing plant orders for pickup in the spring.

Yes, scoring a cool new plant can be as easy as making a reservation at your local nursery, placing a deposit and then getting a call when your new plant arrives from the grower this spring. Delayed gratification is something gardeners are used to, so placing an order in December can be a no-wrap gift to give now (in writing) and look forward to later.

For example, you can pre-order plants on wholesale grower Monrovia Nursery’s website. They have a collection called “Jurassic Ferns” that will provide color, texture and even low water use in a shaded location. There are also new sedums, heucheras, shrubs and flowering perennials that you can order now and plant in the spring.

Here are my favorite new plants for Western Washington shade gardens:

Ferns are the survivors of the plant world — they were here with the dinosaurs. This is a fern that will grow in full shade with bold leaves. Unlike real holly, this evergreen fern stays small and compact. (It is 2 feet tall in my shade garden.) It makes a well behaved fern for the woodland garden or an unusual specimen fern for a container. Dan Hinkley collected the spores of this fern on a mountainside, so it is hardy in our Western Washington winters.

You don’t need any outdoor space for this exotic-looking foliage plant as it can be grown as a houseplant — or if, like me, you have a shaded spot on a porch, you can grow it in a large pot left outdoors all year long.

The lobed leaves resemble a maple leaf but this unusual new variety of Aralia shows off lime green and cream markings on the large evergreen leaves. For such an easy-care, low-water-use plant, this newcomer is a real show stopper.

Surround it with white impatiens in a shady corner or use it indoors to liven a living room. High-end designers are attracted to this fabulous foliage plant as Fatsia was all the rage when mid-century modern homes first showed up. Using Fatsia is a throw back to modern design trends.

This evergreen shrub is often called false holly as the pointed leaves have the shape of holly but Osmanthus adds yellow and gold color to the garden and is not invasive like holly. The reason to add this new variety is because of the fragrance factor, as well as year-round foliage color and easy care in sun or part shade.

I like to use clippings of this Osmanthus in my empty container gardens for holiday cheer. I clip branches in December and poke the cut ends into potting soil so it looks like holly shrubs are growing in my winter-weary porch pots. I also add sprigs of Osmanthus to wreaths and tie the colorful leaves to packages with red yarn.