All of my hostas are under Silver Maples. It takes alot of extra care to grow hostas under Maples that have surface roots. Nutrients, moisture and space get used up by Maples really fast. It's the surface roots that cause the problem. They quickly pull moisture out of the ground, they infiltrate the roots of the hostas and mulch and they make it a nightmare to plant or to dig anything up. I can never cultivate to amend or have nice fluffy soil. Slow growing hostas will grow even slower.

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I dug a hole a few days ago for a small fountain. That pile of roots came out of that hole. This is about 6 feet away from a huge Maple. I cannot plant anything without using pruners and a hatchet.
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Hi franknjini: I started collecting hosta when I lived in north-central Arkansas in the Ozark Mtns. The only shade I had was from Norway Maples. In the soil conditions, hot and dry summers, and dessicating winds it was almost impossible. I couldn't afford to water enough. It was nearly impossible to penetrate the fine surface roots with a bulb planter. Not even stout groundcover plants would survive. I have maples here in Illinois also with similar problems. However, I have a bed that starts about 30' from an ancient massive (3.5 foot dia. trunk) towering maple and there are few of the fine roots in the bed. As soon as I can I will post pictures.

My soil here is much better than in Arkansas. It has good drainage. Coal used to be strip-mined in this area and when I roto-till my produce garden I turn up small chunks of it. The soil is very black which I attribute to coal dust. Things really grow well in my dirt - but not near maple trunks, except the millions of new maples from the "whirlybirds" every spring.

The bed is at, but within the fringe of the drip-line of the maple. So apparently the density of the fine roots is influenced by their need for water. If the area close to the trunk gets enough water the dense surface roots don't extend out as far. The heavy roots like you show you chopped out for the fountain extend WAY beyond the drip line. I traced one that grew to my house foundation, then turned 90 degrees and grew around the corner of the house. My personal advice to anyone thinking about a shade garden around the trunk of one of these is wasting their time. Even a lawn of shade tolerant grass is difficult and expensive to maintain.

It's best use is for an outdoor cooking area or boat trailer storage area or similar. Weeds are sparse too.

Les

Cricket....

Pretty much my entire hosta garden is under maples. Some areas are problematic, others are not.

The feeder roots creep thru the hosta roots and steal moisture from the hostas. It's really terrible. It's like a fabric matte going thru the root zone.