if nothing but trees are growing under an old spruce.. odds are.. it a desert ... and you are going to be hard pressed about winning that battle ...

the trick will be.. in how you plant.. and how you water ..

other than that.. try anything.. and everything you have duplicates of ...

how high is the spruce limbed up??

ken

My husband just noticed this summer that the lower branches were dead. He trimmed them off to about chest height. The branches above those angle down, but we still now have a view of empty space we didn't have before.

This year I have the eupatorium popping up all over, so if it fails to take, I have not lost anything. In the foreground (more moist, low lying) I will transfer over some woodland geraniums that are taking over a hosta bed.

"how you plant": in what way?

Eupatorium Chocolate is the 'seedingest' perennial i have. It grows any and every where. shade, dry, - no problem. Right up there w/ it is Persicaria Lance Corporal. Same attributes but shorter- corydalis lutea. Man, i could give you truckloads of all 3.

If you do ever come across Rhodotypos in the wild- it is the only shrub (except for wild honeysuckle bush and red wing euonymus) that will grow in my dry shade (where i have tried and lost more things than i care to remember.)
Rhodo....jet beard- is related to kerria i think. white kerria-like flowers; sooo pretty in spring; lots of black berries in fall. Ours came from some nearby woods.
mindy

I have Chocolate that gets only morning sun and it's about a foot and a half tall, has barely increased in size and still is only in bud. In sun, it gets at least three feet tall and clumps get noticably bigger each year. It has never seeded in the many years it's been in the ground, perhaps that's only because it does bloom so late then gets cut down before it has a chance. Although many years it never got cut down till Spring. The foliage on this plant stays reliably pristine throughout the season (mentioned before). I use it in bouquets as a filler with a little Miscanthus thrown in and it lasts well! That is, when I cut flowers...a rarity!

What about a daylily? They're tough as nails and some have especially tall bloom stems. I found one earlier this Summer in one of my borders that was obscured behind an evergreen in the shade and it was blooming its heart out--a deep purplish red with a yellow throat! I divided and moved it front and center in my newly deepened beds.

Hoping you find a solution!

This post was edited by catkin on Sat, Sep 27, 14 at 15:27