Here is an idea that I picked up at Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, Pennsylvania and pollinators will also love you for it. When planting a deciduous tree, make good use of the ground area beneath the tree by planting shade tolerant ground covers. Evergreen trees don’t work here. You can also create a beautiful planting bed of assorted perennials at the edge of a woodlands.

Many gardeners will automatically plant hostas, coral bells (Heuchera spp.,) or assorted ferns. All are great choices. Here is a lengthy list of long-lived shade perennials: Lenten roses (Helleborus x), foamflower (Tiarella), Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra), woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata), Bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum), lilyturf (Liriope spicata), deadnettle (Lamium), lungwort (Pulmonaria saccharata), wild ginger (Asarum canadense), moss fern (Selaginella braunii), astilbes (Astilbe spp.), coralbells (Heuchera villosa), (Brunnera macrophylla), Spotted deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), hardy begonias (Begonia grandis), pachysandra, Ajuga (Ajuga reptans), barrenwort (Epimedium spp.), Pennsylvanica sedge (Carex pensylvanica), and two favorite shade ferns – Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) and male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas). Don’t leave out planting late winter blooming bulbous flowers such as snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) and winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) or fall blooming rain lilies (Zephyanthes).

Dry shade is the area (or shade) found under a canopy of a huge, deciduous or leaf-shedding trees. It is called ‘dry’ since the area often lacks moisture partly due to the maturity of the tree. Low growing hydrangeas also work under trees with supplemental irrigation. Recommend Mountain hydrangeas Tuff Stuff® series or Let’s Dance® bigleaf hydrangea series (Hydrangea macrophylla), Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’ and dwarf Japanese andromeda (Pieris japonica). They won’t thrive under dry soil conditions.

Use an augur, hand trowel, or hori (digging knife) to set most plants. Opt to plant 3 or more of each variety for visual impact of the colorful foliage or flowers during the season. Add plants with bold colors or variable foliage textures. This can add beauty to your dry shade and would surely catch some attention.

Adding ground cover plants under established trees is rarely successful, particularly if the trees are shallow-rooted. As stated earlier, you might try to drill in small flowering bulbs like crocus and snowdrops deep rooted established dogwood, redbud or crape myrtle. Do not add 2 or more inches of topsoil under established trees in order to sow ground plants and bulbs. This would deprive tree roots of needed oxygen.