Some pictures of your situation would help>

The only things I've had luck with in heavy shade are hellebores and geranium macrorrhizum. Pachysandra hasn't done too badly, but it was established before the trees grew.

Epimedium will do fine in dry shade.

So here are some pics of the area. The trees on either side of the frame are both holly trees. The Maple is out of frame to the left. I just added the low stone wall and plan to backfill with soil. The mass of foliage in the foreground is the little raised bed.

Here is the maple. In the back corner by the rain barrel there is yet another holly tree we’ve tried killing repeatedly.

Here is the weed patch I’m hoping to sort out.

I know they are not native, but I planted Hellebores under one of my Southern Magnolias, and they are spreading and bloom every year. Ferns can work too. Will post a pic tomorrow.

Markay, I have a lot of tree roots on my property. I do have some full sun and more part shade than full shade, but a few areas of full sun. I had high hopes when I first started trying to garden here. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was up against. I’ve tried so many things that were supposed to be good in shade and part shade. When a lot of those failed, I went looking for more ideas and like you, for people with experience with these conditions.

Here is one of the threads I posted 17 years ago, on dry shade….

Dry Shade Prairiemoon2 17 years ago

Here are some more from a search for Dry Shade - that’s what you have when you have a lot of tree roots. Try doing your own search for dry shade and choose the older threads where you might have more responses from old GW members who have more expertise. But you can start with these…

What can I plant under a tall Hemlock?

Shrub Recommendations for Dry Shade

As for my own experiences, I haven’t tried all the things you have, but the Tiarella really didn’t last more than a season or two. Heucheras and Pulmonarias didn’t thrive here either.

I do well with Solomon’s Seal and Hostas , Hellebores too, Ferns do fairly well, except in July and August if we end up with drought conditions, then I really do have to keep an eye on them and provide enough water. Painted ferns and ‘Ghost’ fern do really well here.

BUT, you said you have sandy soil and I have clay.

VABluebells have not done very well for me, but I didn’t give them a good try.

Wood phlox petered out.

Epimediums do great for me. And especially when I have gotten those that run instead of clumping.

One that has surprised me how well it does is Dwarf Solomon’s Seal. It spreads and is pretty happy.

Snowdrops do very well and are easy to dig into the soil without needed a lot of depth. Very small bulbs

Hope that helps.

Under my Hemlocks, I planted Pachysandra, Hakone grass (Japanese forest grass), Pieris and Skimmia japanica.

Thanks so much for the input!

Early spring squarely in the root zone of this Silver Maple

Later in the year. No weeds in here except for trees planted by squirrels, and grass which creeps in from the edges. I cannot succesfully cut an edge on this bed because of the tree roots.

Heuchera love growing directly on linestone, so your acidic soil is probably the reason your Heuchera have died. The native shrubs Lindera benzoin,(Spicebush) and Dirca palustris(Leatherwood) can grow well in shade. Some Carex species for acidic soil in shade are C. pensylvanica, C. woodii, C. appalachica, C. amphibola and C. blanda. If you have sufficiant light before your trees leaf out you could plant some spring ephemerals like Bloodroot, Bluets, Fringed Bleeding Heart, Dutcheman's Breeches, Squirrel Corn, Trillium, Meadow Rue, False Meadow Rue, Woodland Phlox, Twinleaf, Virginia Waterleaf, etc.

Goatsbeard, (Aruncus dioica) is an herbaceous perrenial that grows to shrub size.

G. maccrorrhizum isn't native but is a great plant for dry shade. Epimediums too.

Great patch of Hellebores, IndianaGGirl! How much sun do you think that patch gets?

Jay…well that explains why Heuchera doesn’t really do well for me. But I’m more a 6pH, I thought that was neutral. So, where my Lilacs are, I have to add Lime and I wonder if that area would be a good place for Heuchera?

Carex buchananii does well for me here and it reseeds gently. I think it prefers a little more sun though.

Speaking of shrubs that grow in shade. I have Cornus racemosa [Gray Dogwood] in mostly shade in the corner with a mature Silver Maple to the South 8ft away and a tall hedge of Taxus and Hollies to the West of it. This shrub took off when I first planted and 3 years later it was huge. It always looks good and it flowers and berries in that low light. The tree roots and the dryness doesn’t seem to bother it. I never need to do anything for it and the birds love the white berries.

I agree about Ephemerals - I should have really done more. I have Bloodroot and Bleeding Heart one of my favorites. And Lunaria loves my yard right up near the spruce trees in the next yard. Shade and dry and clay soil doesn't bother it at all. It reseeds every year and I leave it alone to do it's own thing. Very pretty and it blooms when white bleeding heart blooms and they look great. I imagine it does better with more sun, some of mine is in 4 hrs of sun, but it also keeps popping up in the shady areas too.

Asarum canadense & Actaea rubra have done very well in my dry shade between a massive sugar maple and a white walnut. The Actaea seeded itself into that area.

Oh...thank you Peren.all, I forgot I have the Asarum too. It does do well here, but I have had bad enough drought at some point every season for it to shrivel up and flatten on the ground. It always revives and looks fine after water is restored. I love it's shiny leaves and it spreads nicely.

Not native but charming, Cyclamen hederifolium.

Blooming now. Attractive marbled leaves appear after flowers and are evergreen all winter.

Prairie, it’s fully under the canopy of the maple, so it’s full sun when leaves are off and then shade when leaves are on. Gets some sun when the angle is low, like early morning and late day.

It looks great @indianagardengirl!

So many good ideas in this thread. The woods near me have a lot of Spicebush so I will definitely give that more thought. It tends to grow in a sparse, open habit, but it may be worth testing how it would respond to pruning.

The woods also have lots of holly and laurel. I definitely don’t want to add more holly. I get poked often enough by what I have, but the mountain laurel I have in a different part of the garden has done well and I might add another. I’d like to move the one I have, but I’m afraid it won’t survive as they are notoriously finicky.

Interesting information about Heuchera @Jay 6a Chicago. I might use some in pots, but won’t be messing with the soil pH around my hollies. Heuchera also need to be divided regularly and I want to minimize digging in tree roots for so many reasons!

While G. maccrorrhizum is not native, it is pungent and I’m hoping it may deter voles who like to devour the roots off my plants.

I have a pretty good patch of Asarum canadense on the north side of my house by my AC units where they get lots of water from the condensation line and did not know they could handle dry shade. This is news I can use and I will move some of it this fall to see how it does!

The local nurseries push Aucuba for dry shade. It is non-native, but would be hardy here especially since the front of the house is very protected, but to my eye it looks unnatural… like plastic plants.

I love the idea of mixing in ephemerals although I’ve killed a lot of bleeding hearts here (both fringe leaf and old fashioned). I think they prefer a heavier, richer soil than I can offer.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, I bought a gray dogwood at a local native plant sale years ago, but gave it to my mom. Now I am kicking myself for that!

I LOVE Aucuba japonica, unfortunately, so do the DEER, BIG TIME!!

@41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal) although there are plenty if deer around me, they don’t visit my garden. Can you vouch for how Aucuba does in dry shade?

They are shade tolerant but cannot speak to DRY, DEER love them here as much as Hosta or Euonymus! I can only grow highly TOXIC/POISONOUS or prickly plants here

North yes, the only plants I do not have to spray with Bobbex are TOXIC/POISONOUS or prickly plants. Coreopsis, Ornamental grasses & Asarum are exceptions. Good thing I like them. Sorry to be off topic.

I've had good luck with Tiarella cordifolia when I started them from plugs. Not so much from nursery plants. They do need watering the first year. Dicentra Eximia has done pretty well for me, too.

Starry Solomon's plume really likes organic material. It's been fine for me in the deep, dry shade under my hemlocks and behind my huge copper beech, where the hose doesn't reach --- but only right next to a decaying stump. I imagine in you put plenty of 1-year composted lead mulch, it would do well.

I have an aster, probably heart-leaf? That is very weedy. I like it because the flowers are pretty and anything that grows there is good. I've also found goats beard does well in dry shade. I've tried woodland phlox, but it tends to die off after a few years.

I have a big solomon's seal, which I think is native that does well. I have a smaller, Japanese solomon's seal that dies if it's too dry.

@Sigrid Thank you! This information is very helpful. Unfortunately, despite the trees and leaf fall, I do not have rich organic layer that a lot of native woodland plants want and need, and this is a reality check I needed. I was out this morning observing the sun patterns and when I take pathways into account there is less of the very deep shade than I thought!

IndianaGGirl - Well, I probably have some Hellebores in that amount of exposure. Sometimes I feel like mine are not getting as large as I would have expected. I have clay soil with a pH of 6. I’ve blamed it on tree roots, but yours have tree roots to deal with, so I guess it’s not that. BTW, do you watch Indiana Fever?

Markay, I have a Spicebush in a lot of shade in the drip line of a 50 yr old Silver Maple and it also has light blocked from a large Gray Dogwood and it’s doing nothing.

If you have Mountain Laurel that does well for you, there are a number of nice new cultivars too. It doesn’t do well for me for some odd reason.

Heucheras - no, Hollies need acid. I only have one area where I could and actually need to adjust the pH and that is where my Lilacs are.

Bleeding Heart - they grow well for me here, but some critter has eaten just about every one of my pink Bleeding Hearts and strangely never touches the white. [g]

Gray Dogwood - well if you have a local native nursery, try another one in the spring. The great thing is you can buy a small one because they grow so fast.

Markay - If you are short on an organic layer, I buy Coast of Maine Castine blend which has been very useful. Not cheap but I try to make it last.

Less deep shade is good, right?

"Hollies need acid."

Ilex aquifolium and its cultivars grow happily on slightly alkaline and neutral soils.

Besides, Markay already has holly growing well. .

Floral - I was just agreeing with Markay that I also would not adjust the pH near his Hollies in order to grow Heuchera better. We were talking about raising the pH for the Heucheras.

Yes, I have blue Hollies that grow fine in pH 6, but one of them often starts having yellowing leaves and dropping them. This doesn't happen if I add Hollytone.

Right, I get it. No cater to the shrubs not the Heucheras.

The blue bulb is Scilla diabetics.

I thought of a few more. Aralia racemosa does well for me in dry soil and deep shade. Geranium maculatum, and Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza claytonia and Osmorhiza longistylis. They have a ferny look, but are in the carrot family. Clearweed, Pilea pumila and Enchanter's Nightshade, Circaea canadensis make great groundcovers, and they won't bother larger plants. They are both annuals that can be controlled by deadheading. My Wood Poppies, Stylophorum diphyllum do well in dry shade too. There are some nice native Lysimachia species that are also great for shade. I only need to water these plants when there are long droughts.

Jay I would love to see photos of the Perennials you mentioned that do well in dry soil. Especially any that do well in deep shade.