I don’t have much info, but this either placed itself or was already here in a VERY neglected bed. I’ve kept the grass out and that’s it. Lots of sun here and even in droughts it doesn’t look stressed or go dormant. I say that only in the hopes that if it did this well in sun it will do better in shade. others can give more information specific to your needs, I’m sure!

Is the different colored patch sweet wooddruff? one cannot tell from your photo.

it can run a lot. maybe not too rampant if this soil isnt too rich. it is easy to pull up but why make more work for yourself.?

may i ask why you want to plant a new tree in close? vicinity to maples? those will suck up moisture and youll be watering for an hour a day during a heat spell or attending to soaker hoses and faucets. we know the habits of maple roots. Check in with trees and shrubs forums fir plants appropriate to the site

Thanks, Marie. Do you have another groundcover suggestion that might work better?

The maple is in my neighbor's yard, not immediately next to my Japanese maple, but close enough to provide shade. I live in a suburb close to the city with very small yards, so there's just not much choice of planting locations! We had a landscape architect help us choose the plantings. So far the Japanese maple is doing fine, but you make a good point about needing to keep an eye on moisture.

Thanks for these ideas! Our lamium is getting eaten by rabbits (despite being supposedly rabbit resistant) but geraniums are thriving elsewhere and would work there!

I'm late to this discussion but I have to say I LOVE sweet woodruff. I love the foliage!

My experience is this. I planted some under some oak trees in an area that did not get much sun or supplemental water. It petered out, but that could be because I didn't attend to it well enough to get it established.

My second experience - I used to maintain gardens for homeowners as a side job, and one garden I worked in for years had a large bed in front of the house with four maples, a mountain laurel and an azalea, as well as vinca and sweet woodruff. After I started taking care of this garden and was adding shredded leaves spring and fall, the soil got better and the vinca took off. The sweet woodruff did better as well, but the vinca overtook it and the sweet woodruff declined, much to my chagrin and despite trying to control the vinca.

So in my experience (admittedly limited) sweet woodruff was not invasive or even aggressive. Could have been the conditions - dry soil, under maples, hot late afternoon sun - but other than the sun it kind of sounds like your conditions as well. I will say it never looked ratty. And if you truly are using it as a groundcover, and not growing other perennials in it, it might work well for you.

Otherwise Marie gave a good list to consider as well. Good luck!

:)

Dee