Pachysandra?

Pachysandra, vinca, epimediums, hosta, some ferns, hellebores, various hardy geraniums, hardy ginger - those are the ones I know.

I am another voice discouraging you from trying to make this into the type perennial garden space you are planning. To get anything to grow there with much success you will need to choose plants to suit the conditions and you will need to keep the area well watered both in the garden and in the surrounding grass area. Most likely the previous owners used mulch because it is too dry and shady for grass and many other plants. Maples have aggressive roots that pretty much fill any nearby soil. I even had roots from a nearby maple grow up into a nearby planter through the drain holes and completely fill the entire container with maple roots.

Groundcovers that tolerate shade and dry conditions will be the best choice, so plants like the Pachysandra mentioned above and Vinca should be able to grow there to fill the space. I have no experience with barren strawberry, but it may work. I have found that Veronica 'Georgia Blue' does well in sun or shade and isn't too fussy about soil moisture, but I haven't tried in in the dry shade that maples create. I love Clematis and grow many of them, but I wouldn't expect one to thrive there because they like sufficient moisture and nutrients and don't like root competition. You would do well to place it elsewhere if you want it to succeed. I have grown foxglove/Digitalis purpurea for years and it is happy in shade but will want adequate moisture. It is a self-seeding biennial or very short-lived perennial, so if it is successful there, let some stalks go to seed so it plants its own replacements. A couple more groundcovers that might work include Ajuga/bugleweed or an ornamental Lamium. Hopefully others with more experience with these plants under these conditions.

Gooseneck loosestrife might also be a good choice for this spot. You will see comments about how aggressive it is, but that is what is needed to compete with maple roots. Another slightly taller groundcover is hay scented fern/Dennstaedtia punctilobula, which is a native fern that will happily spread to fill space. In my area it grows in conditions ranging from pretty much full sun to full shade and doesn't mind roots from maples or other trees.

As far as design, you could either plant several groundcovers and let them duke it out or just plant one for a restful, even appearance, but I advise you to give up on the idea of making this into a traditional pretty perennial bed.

Darn, yes that is a maple! We have four large maples on our property which seems to be the explanation for all the mulch apparently. That's not the best of news but I do appreciate finding this out before spending hundreds of dollars just to have everything die on me. There is a second much larger mulch area nearby with two maples in it, now I wonder if the hundreds of dollars I spent last year planting Hostas, Astilbe and helleborus will be a waste as well. Back to the drawing board I guess! Thank you for all the suggestions and advice!

And I heartily second Bab's suggestions!! You will not have success with the plants you have chosen. A single drought and shade tolerant groundcover will be your best bet and I am heavily into the pachysandra camp :-)) Lamium is a good choice as well, as is Geranium macrorrhizum if you want a bit more flower color.

IME, vinca does not do as well in dry soils like one would find under a maple - it prefers a consistently moist soil. It is also considered invasive in many areas, however I doubt that would be an issue if planted in this confined bed.

yet my new house has mulch gardens everywhere

==>>> were you there last fall ???? ... are you sure there isnt anything there already???

you should probably ID the type of maple ... if they are the dreaded norway Maple... [or the not much better silver maple] .... the reason for the mulch ring might be to make mowing easier over all the surface roots ... i like to say.. if the most invasive weed on the planet ... grass ... wont grow under a tree ... you are going to be highly challenged to get anything else to grow ... see above in that regard ...

you can get an ID .... if not here.. in the trees or name that plant forum ...

anyway ... based on the color of the lawn ... im thinking most everything is still dormant ... so you might want to wait a bit.. to see if there is anything under that tree ...

welcome to the forums ...

ken

ps: i never got foxglove to be long lived.. even in good soil ... you might be leaning towards a hard one.. and on top of it.. in an extremely hard place ... [this is where a bunch of peeps chime in and say they are the easiest plant in the world to grow.. lol....]

Hosta and hellebores should work, though they will like regular water the first year. The astilbe won't without a lot of watering. If you have deer, hostas will be a struggle from that perspective.

Don't pay much attention to advice from people off the east coast. We get a lot more summer rain than most places, so there can be enough water to go around.

Thanks Ken, yes we moved in a year and a half ago and I've seen the house in all 4 seasons. Based on the tags we found everywhere, we think the homeowners completely re-landscaped before selling and nearly half of what they planted died over our first winter. I'll take responsibility for half the dead plants but in my defense when so many plants are turning burgundy because it's fall it's harder to notice the ones turning burgundy because they're dying. They also seemed to reallllly like maples because in addition to the 4 large ones they added four japanese type maples. I sincerely would like to rip out most of what they did or move it somewhere else.

Under the pictured maple there is one lamium and a handful of variegated liriope that seem undersized and I don't remember them putting up any flowers. In the other larger mulch garden with the two large maples we have probably about 10 of those variegated liriope that are also undersized as well as a couple spiderworts which actually seemed to be doing well last spring. The liriope they planted in the random mulch island in our front yard are much larger and were already spreading pretty nicely last spring. I guess I'll wait and see if those plants or any of the ones I planted last year come back and maybe keep going with that.

I would look at other areas to consider putting in a perennial bed. Adjacent to the garden possibly near the house. Watchout with foxglove, and other poisonous perennials. One other consideration for CT are the deer.

That's Norway Maple (invasive), I would consider cutting it down and have the stump excavated and replaced with loam. Remove the rock border and reseed the area.

Re liriope:

There are two commonly available kinds, one that spreads and one that is much less vigorous/aggressive. I've never bothered to remember which one is which since the garden centers have them hopelessly confused. The aggressive one is at least a zone hardier, and does well here in the green form. I can't grow the other one, and I can't grow it variegated. So depending on exactly where you are in CT, you may be hitting zone limits with the liriope, as much as anything, and it will require good conditions to thrive.

I should admit, though, that unlike everything else I've mentioned in this thread, I do not grow liriope under the red maple. I've seen it under other people's maples, and around here the aggressive green kind is the only one that works.

Liriope spicata is the spreader (z4) and Liriope muscari is the clumper (z5). But neither are overly well suited to dry, rooty shade. Shade is fine but an evenly moist soil and one with decent fertility is preferred.

It really doesn't matter how much annual rainfall an area receives - the broad tree canopy and wide spreading root system either prevents the area under the tree from receiving adequate direct rainfall or what little may occur is sucked up by the far more aggressive tree roots. That's why suggestions are made for "dry shade tolerant" plantings in these situations.

"The plants I have chosen work in the described situation."

Not here they don't!! And I seriously doubt the dry shade situation created by large surface rooted trees like maples is any different in CT than it is in WA.

This is not a unique situation and the cautions about attempting to underplant a large maple are well documented and discussed on the Trees and the Maples forum all the time. There IS a limited number of plant species that wll tolerate, let alone thrive, in these situations without the need for almost constant attention.

I agree with gardengal. The plants shown will not work with maples. A ground cover suited for dry shade--Geranium macrorrhizum or pachysandra--will yield the best results, and even with them, they'll take a while to establish. There's very little point in fighting constantly against the existing situation in a garden. Successful gardens work with what they have, not against it.

A little OT but it appears that several posts to this thread have been deleted.........so it makes it look like I was talking to myself or worse, trying to take over the entire discussion!! That was not my intent and I apologize for the disjointedness of how the thread now reads.

I find it a little odd that when presented with a differing opinion, some responders choose to leave the playground, taking their toys with them (deleting their comments) rather than standing by what they wrote........or drew. That doesn't strike me as a very professional approach for someone who is supposed to be a "pro"............

I don't live in your area but I would look into hostas and hellebores as other states, also the Violet purple Labrador, which does very well in dry forested areas. I have all three under a dry pine tree area and they do fine. Keep in mind hostas come up late but the bloom time of hellebores should balance it out.

You might want to look into shaded woodland plants as they will do the best under a dry tree area.