We moved to this house five years ago. There was a huge spruce tree on the property. The first spring, my friend gave me about twenty violets and twenty lily of the valley. By the next summer, the violets completely covered the big area under the tree, the lily of the valley did not do as well. I did not clear the tons of needles or pinecones before planting. I just dug a hole and stuck a plant in. Done. The violets bloom each year in the early summer and remain green until winter. The plants completely disappear in the fall and come back up each spring with no effort on my part. You can't see the ground for the violets. One word of caution, you will have to make sure they do not get into your lawn or flowerbeds. They will spread wherever they can.

If you are worried about aggressiveness, I would forget about Vinca minor. I grow Vinca minor 'Sterling Silver' and put up with its aggressiveness because it is so beautiful! Bill

It is difficult for lawn to grow under the canopy of any large tree - too much shade and too little water. Groundcover would be a much better choice. You want to watch about increasing the soil level around the tree - as much as a couple of inches of extra soil or too much mulch can effectively smother the roots and eventually kill the tree. Just replace soil to level of the removed sod, only. Some possibilities are ajuga, vinca minor, liriope or mondo grass and winter creeper (Euonymus fortunei).

First, groundcovers won't eliminate weeds - they only retard their development. And some are much better at it than others. For underplanting large conifers, pachysandra is a good choice - it is quite tolerant of dry shade, which is the usual planting condition in this situation. But go with Pachysandra terminalis rather than the native species (Pachysandra procumbens). First, it is fully evergreen and it spreads faster than Allegheny pachy. Both factors will be better for weed control. Are the needles an applied mulch or are they shed needles from the spruce (in which case they'd be spruce needles :-)) ? If a mulch, just rake them aside to plant, then replace around the new groundcovers. No particular tricks to planting and no need for added soil or mulch - the conifer needles serve that purpose admirably. The ground beneath the trees will be very rooty and hard to dig so start with small plants. Plant in a zig-zag pattern rather than in straight rows 12-16" on center (use the closer spacing if you want faster coverage). And water well. Even plants suited to dry shade will need extra water until they get properly established.