I think you will have a difficult time growing them under the red maple once it is fifteen to twenty feet tall. I have a good strong main species tree and at fifteen feet tall it just is not that slecial a threat. The grass grows right up to its trunk unfortunately but I can tell withing two feet of the trunk the grass is not as vigorous as out in the yard.

What do you mean by a red maple? I can think of three trees that are commonly called that - each very different.

It also depends on where you are since the the biggest problem with gardening under trees is water. In a place with a fair amount of rain, like here, you can get away with more.

I am in central nj, near trenton. The one being recommended is an autumn glory maple

Autumn Glory seems to be an Acer rubrum cultivar. I have a big one with pachysandra, hostas, and a surprisingly large variety of weeds underneath it. There are things that won't work, but enough things will work that it isn't a deal breaker.

what potential problems it could cause if I wanted to ...... hosta's underneath it?

==>>>> just out of curiosity... why not ask in the hosta forum ... and see what they think about maple.. and i wont answer because of my bias against maple ...

ken

What is your bias against Maple? Trying to get as much info as we can in deciding what tree to get. Some of the choices we thought we liked seem to have short life spans, so we are trying to find longer lived trees, but want to be able to make as informed a decision as we can.

Thanks

eterprincess: If your goal is a long lived tree which will allow gardening beneath it, consult George Schenk's now-classic book, The Complete Shade Gardener. There's an entire chapter on suitable trees for many different climates. In general, all maples have shallow and relatively greedy root systems which will eventually cause problems for anything planted beneath them. There are much better choices.

Agreed...Maples do have 'greedy' shallow fibrous root systems that make it difficult for moisture loving shade plants.

Hostas are not impossible to grow under a Maple (I have them under a very large Silver Maple) but they are not as vigorous as they could be. I've gravitated to dry shade plants but still have a few Hostas.

A limiting factor in Acer rubrum growth is soil pH. It must be on the acid side for this tree to thrive. I'll bet you've got such soil in NJ though. Where I live, our soil is underlain by dolomite-a type of limestone. As such, we don't do well with A. rubrum here, although just a county away, they're fine. For us it's the Freeman maple if we want red fall color, that being a hybrid between red maple and silver maple. They do great here.

+oM

Since you are bringing this up, +oM, what pH are you dealing with? Mine is 7.2, and the A. rubrums do fine. It doesn't seem to be at all a finicky plant.

Of course, this has nothing to do with New Jersey.

I agree that maples are fairly shallow rooted, but I still manage shade gardening under them. No, I cannot do the Hosta ( aka, Deer lettuce) but I do grow ferns beneath them without issues (and ferns are quite deer proof).

Most of my other shade tolerant plants are under a grove of Eastern Hemlock.

P.S., I think most NJ soils tend to be on the acid side.

Red Maple's (Acer rubrum) are very common in NJ. Should have no problems growing given a good site.