Big job. Maples are beautiful but nasty for Hosta and most other plants. I have a spot that is between a Sugar maple - Acer saccharum and a Butternut - Juglans cinerea that is brutal.

There are 3 plants that are perfect at adapting to dry shade. Epimedium, Polygonatum and Geranium macrorrhizum. They will all perform well under the Maple.

Will grass even grow there? Maybe try your hand at containers.

tj

I have a beautiful true red maple and many of my hostas are nearby. Sometimes I wonder if that’s why a couple haven’t bloomed. But——without the maple, I would have no shade, therefore no hostas. :-)

I have Autumn Bride heuchera growing right at the base of a 45 yo maple. I am surprised at how Little root room they need and how big they get.

Sherry

I just took a look and also doing very well are Pulmonaria 'Mrs. Moon', Asarum canadense, campanula persicifolia and an Actaea rubra popped in by choice and is happy.

It seems quite funny that the rest of the tree roots have not harmed the rest of the hosta behind the house and so far they all seem to be fine. It is a Manitoba maple but possibly the roots are just in the front section closer to the tree

This picture is where I had to remove 45 plants. I think it is sucking all the water out of the soil as it is very dry and I water constantly

these are the plants I have to clean up . Hopefully get them all done before they dry out. I wet them down and they are in shade .

Yes if I don't find homes in the rest of my already crowded beds I will have to do the pots. I left some volunteer hosta around the tree as these others seemed more important. The ligularia , peonies and Heuchera and a few others seem to be not affected.. It probably would make a very nice place to buy washed rock and a bench along with some potted hosta. and a breeze blows through , It has the view of the Shuswap Lake below

These seem to be okay and maybe are far enough away from the roots

Just when I thought I was finally catching up too, Thanks for the suggestions Tomorrow is another day lol

Faye

My variegated Solomon's Seal is handling the aggressive maple tree roots just fine. Ajuga and Lamium are doing well too.

Oh boy! What a job to dig up 45 hostas. Years ago I had a silver maple and I planted several Hostas around it. They never grew very well and all ended up dying out except the Patriot that I dug up and moved.

Hopefully you found another spot to plant all of them. I would hate to have to pot up that many.

I know---very well---the effects of maple tree roots on plants. My whole backyard is filled with roots of two VERY large maple trees. Needless to say, I struggle to grow anything there! What I understand is that the tree roots extend beyond the canopy of the tree. Also, the roots are not necessarily evenly dispersed around the tree. So I find areas that are better for planting and have less roots. But if you plant near a maple tree---and water that area very well---that's exactly where the maple tree will try to grow more roots because that is where the moisture is! It's hard to outsmart a maple tree!

For me, I also need to consider water drainage on my property. When we get a lot of rain, where does the water flow to? That's where a lot of maple tree roots will be.

So what grows well under a maple tree for me? Not much when you get to the size my trees are. There are only three plants that come to mind: Sweet Woodruff (considered invasive here, but not for me!); lancifolia (which grows, but not to its full size) and lamium.

I was surprised to see heuchera mentioned, but I do have a spot where they are growing. I also have a European ginger in a pot to plant. But I thought they need more moisture. We'll see.

My Elegans snuggle up to my big maple.

Been there for many years.

- Jon