Goutweed, if you want it. Put a barrier so it can't spread.
Shelley

Thank-you for your response sazzyrose. I don't want to use goutweed--I am scared there isn't a barrier deep enough to contain goutweed--had it in a different bed once before and it spread with a will of its own. I finally got rid of it, so don't want to use it again--unless someone has a great idea of a barrier that would contain it. I inherited the tree and it is in the middle of a great lawn so don't want goutweed spreading into it.
Is there any other ideas of plants for me to use?

Lamium is quite tolerant of dry shady conditions - I have several clumps that seeded themselves under a willow tree and they seem to be pretty happy there, kind of tumbling over a low rock wall. It'll spread readily in the right conditions, but I've never seen any seed into/spread into a lawn so no heavy duty barrier should be required.

Why not place an arrangement of some sort under the tree? Leave the pine mulch alon. Place an old chair or stool or stump under the tree by the trunk. Put containers on the ground around the chair/stump and one on the chair/stump. You would have no worries about trying to find a plant that will grow under the tree. Also, it would give height and color to the area and a place for your eye to go to that is pleasing to look at when you look at that area.

Just an idea.

Brenda

I agree with Brenda, to use pots of flowers and other decorations. I also have a row of tall spruce and actually tried to get some goutweed started under them, but even the goutweed couldn't survive there. Grass doesn't grow well either, so I started a hedge of lilacs about 10' in front of them to block the view of dirt underneath them. After 7 years, the lilacs are still only about 4' tall, more proof of how much water those spruce trees suck up.

Good luck with those very difficult conditions!
Laurie

My Mom has two enormous spruce trees beside her house, which are low to the ground. They've been enjoying the water from the downspout for about 50 years. Mom has covered the ground beneath the trees with loads of spruce cones, then she tucked in some ceramic life-sized chickens and chicks and a goose, along with a chicken watering pail and a little round chick feeder. She put pieces of old weathered fence behing the trees. It looks really great, and there aren't any plants to worry about. (Mom can't draw a thing, kind of like me, but she has a wonderful artistic eye, which I am still trying to develop.)
Connie

Connie, I love the idea of pine cones as a ground cover! It might be tricky to get enough of them unless the tree is a heavy producer or you have some other source though.

My neighbour also has two big spruces and he couldn't keep plants alive underneath so he put in raised lawn edging in sort of an irregular shape around each, then filled them with bark nugget mulch, added some nice artistic looking driftwood, and planted some daylilies (or it might be irises, I haven't looked closely) around the edges where there is more light. It looks nice.

Thank-you for your ideas. I am going to try to plant some lamium under the tree. I will dig the holes for planting and try to amend the soil first. I'll just try a couple of plants to see what happens. As to the pinecones--this tree hardly produces any or none some years
The ideas for putting anything ornamental doesn't work because of all the birds. Everything becomes covered or streaked in bird poop which doesn't look at all attractive!
Thanks again for any imput you gave.

Pine and spruce cones are one thing I can get lots of, thanks to my Dad the tree man. Over the years as we left home, he planted more and more trees in the big garden plot, mostly spruce, pine, and larch. Plus he has two really big spruce windbreaks there on the farm. Dad can't stand to see a tree not used out on the prairie. I needed a few cones to finish off my Christmas decorations, so I asked for a grocery bag. He gave me 5 bags full! Unfortunately, conifers are one of the things my DH is allergic to, so I really limit the number of baby trees I get from my Dad. He's always moving seedlings out from under the big trees into new homes. He's also my source for crab apples, chokecherries, nanking cherries, plums, mountain ash, willows, asparagus, and strawberries. That's a hobby I can relate to!
Connie