Sounds like you are well on the way to killing the last tree standing .
Oaks do not like to have their roots covered up with stone and mulch .
In a few years or less , you will find oak shoots growing up through it all
trying to get some air .
Mulch and stone are fine and have their place in a yard,
just not near the base of any tree .
Sorry to start off with a strong negative response .
There is hope so don't give up !!
There are some brilliant GWs here who will offer you positive help .

I have recently hired a landscaper and have issues with two live oaks. We don't have them planted yet, but her recommendation is Ornamental Peanut as a ground cover. We intend on trying it. Hope this helps!!! Christy

Things that will work well with your oak tree roots:

Macho fern- lush, 2-3 foot high groundcover that grows quickly. After a year or two will need thinning every year. Here it is not phased by cold, but I don't know where you are. Looks pretty all year and tolerates lots of shade.

Fishtail fern- not quite as vigorous as above. More lacy, and pretty. Also a 2-3 foot tall ground cover. Will cover ground and need to be thinned, but not as much. Pretty cold tolerant here. Looked a little ratty after this winter, but still looked surprisingly good.

Holly fern- Deep green. Stays put and does not travel, so you will need to buy more. Very pretty 2 foot ground cover. Very cold hardy. Grows more slowly.

Bromeliads. Choose large, landscape types, or fast-growing ones like Mend, Martin, Aechmea Blanchetiana. Again, don't know how these would do in your zone, so you'd need to research it.

Cast Iron Plant- Common variety is deep green, 2 foot tall ground cover. Grows slowly into large clumps. Tolerates oak roots and very dry conditions beautifully. Variegated and spotted ones are a bit more fussy, but still work well and are pretty. Not phased by Florida winters.

Split leaf philodendron can do well under oaks if they get some water. Maybe the occassional variegated ginger. Ask at your local nursery (not big box store) where people will be familiar with your climate. Good luck!

Anna

You can use mulch, but use a thin layer. A coating of oak leaves makes a nice natural mulch.

We had a similar situation in our previous front yard. We were fighting shade and tree roots, grass just wouldn't grow. The tree roots wouldn't allow us to dig holes big enough for shrubs. So our local nurseryman suggested Minima Jasmine as a ground cover. It worked beautifully. We bought small plants so that it wasn't so hard to plant in minimal soil. It did take about a year for it to really take off, but after that if filled in everywhere we wanted it to. It didn't mind the shade, either. And you can use the lawn mower set high to mow it occasionally to keep it pruned. You can weedwack it also.

Anna and Rita are correct.

I have tri-colored Asiatic jasmine growing under my live oaks and both are thriving.

My neighbor across the street had his concrete driveway pulled out and replaced with pavers. In the process they destroyed many of the roots of his live oak and it started a rapid decline. The professionals came in, blasted the soil surface with a pressure cleaner to aerate the soil and then planted ferns under the tree...it's looking much better now.

I'll shoot some pictures tonight when I get home.

Tom

I have a huge live oak in the back, and honestly, under the oak is one of my most favorite places to plant...my "jungle" is right under it

Near the trunk, since it is hard to plant anything, I grow plants with shallow roots that like shade/filtered light and are happy with a nice layer of decaying leaves:
Ferns - there are so many different ferns out there!!1
Begonias - same, so many :)
Impatients, lots of color for shady spots
Yellow walking iris
Caladiums and elephant ears

Under the oak, but not right next to the truck, I have:
two big treeferns,
lots of amaryllis plants,
more begonias,
gingers,
hydrangeas and azaleas - both love acidic soil so oak leaves are a plus,
orchids - in pots and in the ground

So plenty of possibilities :) Ferns would probably be the easiest route

A few pictures, taken over the years - all plants growing under the oak

I would highly recommend the azaleas under the oaks. I really think that is a timeless look that has become terribly underused in recent years. It's hard to find a better match especially if you are in northern Florida. If you have irrigation for the azaleas then so much the better.

We had 4- 30' at least Oaks across the back of our house, and Charley took down 3, thank goodness this one remained as it falls in the middle of our 13' wide window, and we get the hot afternoon sun there or did... lol
to reward our tree and ourselves this is what we did underneath it!

Just to add to what others have already suggested. When I ripped out all of the original plants under one of our Oak trees I first replaced them with Azaleas. I had to poke around the ground under the Oak until I could find big enough gaps between the roots. I then dug the holes, added some peat moss and planted the Azaleas. The leaves from the Oak acted as an excellent mulch and the Azaleas have thrived for years with minimal care. Since the Oak was right on the corner of the property, I also added some Impatiens for color. I had to add some soil on top of the roots to accommodate the Impatiens. Normally you should not cover Oak roots, but this was a small area and it had no lasting impact on the tree. The one problem was that the Oak roots quickly grew up into the new soil, competed with the Impatiens and deprived them of water. Six months later when I replaced the Impatiens I removed the new soil and laid down root barrier fabric. While the Oak roots still found ways to get into the soil, the barrier at least allowed the Oak and the Impatiens to co-exist. I've attached a picture (it was taken before Christmas, hence the balls hanging from the tree).{{gwi:872366}}

I live about 20 miles south west of Gainesville, I planted hostas under my oak trees and azeleas also. After 2 years they are doing fine. I did not mulch but water frequently and let the oak leaves remain under the trees.

bsewall that is a beautiful photo. I too have an oak tree in my front yard with no grass underneath! It is all sandy stuff. I was doing a search on Impatiens because that was recommended for my yard. This weekend they are .49 at HD so I'm going to pick up a bunch and try them.

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This is the front of my house

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This is the corner of the front yard with a sago. I'm going to put a bunch of impatients there and cross my fingers!

what about all of the leaves that fall off the trees? how to clean up with the plants under the tree?

Why remove the leaves? The plants love them, but I know if you're dealing with an HOA, you may not have a choice.

I had bromeliads, gingers, amaryllis, crinums and philodendrons under my oaks. I planted the philodendrons by laying them up against the oak tree trunk and covering with a pile of dirt. They eventually grew up into the tree and were gorgeous. I loved not having to rake under the tree, or even fertilize much, because of the leaves. Never "planted" a bromeliad. Just laid them on the ground and let them do their thing. The gingers only need an inch of dirt over them to grow. The giant crinum was planted quite by accident when I was given one which I tossed under the tree and forgot about. It rooted into the ground, still growing on its side, and bloomed like mad every year. The amaryllis I started as tiny bulbets given to me by a friend, so I only had to dig a tiny little hole and cover with dirt to start them. They took a few years to bloom, but they did, and multiplied like mad.

There is a grass that will grow under oaks. It's called "Bitter Blue" St. Augustine, and it's not that easy to find. Mine was there when I moved in, and wherever it grew out from under the shade, it died, because I didn't irrigate the lawn. Still, it thrived under the oak. Monkey grass is also easy to plant and grow under oaks, because you can pull the clumps apart and just plant the sprigs. It fills in rapidly. Same with the green or variegated ornamental sweet potato. Just root some cuttings in water and plant them as soon as they have tiny 1/2" roots on them.

Of course, you can always mulch and use containers for flowers if you want. A lot of people do that.

What rules does your HOA have for front yard plantings? You have to find that out first before you put anything in.