Well both those hostas look like they are pretty happy there.

There are maples and there are maples, specie matters!

My experience is that time matters, the longer the plant is in the ground under the maple the worse it gets but I can't really support that beyond personal observation.

..and some hostas grow better than their fancy cousins, and Gold Standard is one. I suspect it has a weed as an ancestor.
Love it to pieces.
~Bunnycat

Whats the problem with Maple Trees?

I must have missed a the original post about this, but just based on this post alone:

My personal observations concur with those of Ester Opal: If anyone wants to place bets on the hosta over the maple a few years down the road, I'll match whatever sum you suggest. The maple just needs time to find that fresh soil and juicy moist hosta roots.... (insert Jaws music here)

Better yet, anyone want to show us a photo of a hosta still thriving in the same spot right under a maple after 5 years?

KN

LOL LOL KN !!! I know from whence you speak as my silver maple slowly devoured and killed some my deeper rooted varieties of hosta until I finally took the survivors out and potted them up. All I have left of Night Before Christmas is 3 little leaves about 2 inches long from a nice plant I got in 2005. I could go on and on.

Connie

Maples,as well as others feeder roots are not near the trunk,they are out farther from the trunk. I know this because I used to feed my oak trees by drilling holes at the drip line,where the feeder roots are located. Everyting that grew under this maple,before the hostas were planted there grew just fine. NOTHING is black or white when it comes to growing hostas! Why do you suppose some people can't grow a certain hosta,when others can? It is not written in stone about maple trees. If I live long long enough,I'll post a pic every year,and show you doubting Thomases what can grow here and what can't! Phil

Long live Phil!!---Long live Phil!!!

And, not just so we can see your *living proof*, "yah" or "nah"! We just want you around--is all! :o)

Phil, the question is; what specie of maple? If you show it will grow under maple X then that would be useful information.

I could attest to the Phil's statement.
If you plant anything (hosta included) fairly close tu the trunk of established maple AND provide adequate watering, it will grow. These plants must be shallow rooted, though.
Feeder roots will not show to the surface for at least 3' from the trunk and the more mature maple is the further out from the trunk they are.
I have a nice bed going around 45-50' tall Norway maple.
Will try to post picture later.

Yes, the type of maple will definitely matter. In my experience:

Silver Maples: Fine feeder roots right up to the trunk, completely under the canopy, and 30 to 40+ feet out.

Sugar Maples: Fine feeder roots from the dripline out. Hostas could be grown at the base and under (quite beautiful really) but the closer I got to the dripline it was futile.

These are the only two maples I've personally grown hostas near. Under the silver maple, first year they were fine, second year they grew much bigger, 3rd year they shrank back to the size of the first year...

4 years ago...under a sugar maple:

Are we talking about that cute poodle, doing well under your Maple?
Looks like it did great the 2nd pic, but not nearly so big the third???

Conclusion--maybe hosta do well, but not *Poodles*?? :o)

This sure had me worried because I've been buying several hostas to plant under my Maple tree. Had to make a call to my sister who (at her previous house) had hundreds of hostas. She just told me that she had 5 maples, 3 of which were silver maples and had hostas under all. She never had a problem but had to water if there was a lack of rain. Her hostas were always huge and beautiful and they lived there for over 15 years. Whew! Hopefully I'll be that lucky.

Iowa, I swear I don't believe they are silver maples?

Well I'll be the first to admit that I don't know trees and I don't know what kind mine is but I can only take my sister's word for what kind she had. Can you tell what kind of maple just by looking at the leaves? Here are pics of the front and back of mine. In the fall, they turn mostly yellow if that helps. In the spring the buds are red. I'm guessing the tree is close to 30ft tall.
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I seem to have opened another can of worms,and I apologize! I will try to find out what kind of maple I have from a local nursery,who have been in the area for years. I may even take a sample leaf to them. To me,most maples look alike,unless you're talking Japanese Maples,then there is no doubt.(I have several). Sorry,again! Phil

Oh, how fun! For scientific purposes, we will need photos for the next five years for "proof". Are you planning on putting hostas out further from the trunk? That would make the experiment more interesting. Is there a way you can get an ID of the tree? I posted a site that might help you ID the tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: What is that maple?

That's the tree I call a silver maple. Helicopters fall in the spring rather then mid summer like a sugar or Norway maple.

Here is a link that might be useful: silver maple

Yep, "Iowa_", I'd say that IS a 'Silver Maple'! They get that name, because of the silvery backs!

Interesting thread--don't give up, Phil!!! I'm thinking yours may be 'Red Maples', since I saw alot of them on
my parents' property in Murphy, N.C.!

OK,I visited my local nursery,and talked to the owner,a good ol' boy native to the area. He says it is a Red Maple. Now the question is,is that good or bad? For the other answers to your questions,I have planted hostas farther than the trunk area,and they are fine,so far. This is the second year for hostas in that area. I did not find a lot of roots that everyone describes,when I planted them. There are native Dogwoods growing under that tree in different places,and they are growing OK,and they HAVE been there a long time. I think everyone is over-worrying about this subject,at least as far as my area is concerned. I will keep you all up to date next year. Phil

I agree with you, Phil! I think, if you want to, *try it*, see what happens and act accordingly!
That's what we do, isn't it---we learn from our own experience, most often?

And, they ARE 'hosta', afterall--a most forgiving plant!

Being that your tree is a red maple, you shouldn't see the rapid downfall of your hostas like I and others have seen with silver maples. It took only 3-4 weeks for the silver maple feeder roots to entwine themselves around a hosta's roots in my yard. Maples such as sugar maple, black maple and red maple grow much slower than the silver maple. Regardless, it would be interesting to follow the health of the plants under the red maple each year.

Ignorance must be bliss, because I didn't know that hostas weren't supposed to grow under maples.

I have been replacing other plants that are struggling with hosta and hellebores because these have done nothing but thrive, thrive, thrive under my maples. I think mine are sugar maples, but I'm not sure. All I know is these two are the one shade spot I have on 6 acres.

There you have it over here!
Christine

This is OT as far as Maples go, but Chris made a comment I can relate to, no matter what tree you are talking about. I have found here that Hostas grow well under my pines, but as I expanded my beds over the years, the dripline proved to be a fatal location to plant in.

the dripline proved to be a fatal location to plant in."
Hostarox

Define dripline?

I've lived on this property 32 years. I have several maples in my yard, including one gigantic silver maple out back. Years ago, confident that I could work around any gardening obstacle, I started trying different things under that SM. Hostas, ferns, perennials of all kinds. The only things that have been really successful are lamium (which I planted), and thistle, mulberry seedlings and poison ivy (which I didn't). Three years ago I moved the hostas out. Last year and this year I ripped everything up, moved what I wanted, and "planted" landscape cloth and mulch. It looks better than it ever has.

I'm moving next spring -- if I were staying here, I would have tried Bishop's Weed.

The hostas I moved have at least quadrupled in size in three years.

Hostas under the other maples are fine, given extra water.

I have had flowers near a Silver Maple for 25+ years. For the first 10-15 they were fine having been established for a long time. Then the decline started. First I thought it was me. I would get huge starts of beautiful plants from friends and they would be fine at first and then shrink and struggle. The more shade the more shade lovers I tried thinking it was the shade not the roots. For the last 5 years I might have just as well planted my a$$ in a lawn chair instead of bothering with water, fertilizer, different plants etc. Everything looked like it was about ready to die.
I planted a nice hosta bed thinking shade and after about 1 month checked out the roots and found maple roots invaded every rootball and square inch of land. This winter we cut the sucker down--all 45+feet of it. The hostas that stayed in the area have never looked better even with the sun beating down on them.
My experience has been that a small maple is allright. A medium maple creates problems, BUT once those trees get gigantic and they will in a hurry especially with all the extra TLC they will swipe from your efforts THEY WILL RULE.
I give you people credit for trying and not all Maple Species are as Evil as the Silver BUT If I would have known then what I found out the hard way. I would have cut that tree down and planted something else years ago and I would not only have a "Nice" tree, but saved a lot of wasted time and effort.
Just my experience with the Beast.
Oaks are not as slow growing as people think and there are also alot of other fine trees out there.
Also NO HELICOPTERS and Millions of Maples trees volunteering everywhere.
We still have 2 Huge ones left But because of power lines and the fact that we can't possibly cut these out ourselves too dangerous we have to work around them.
Maybe God will take them out...I can only dream LOL
GOOD LUCK TO everyone out there that has success--I did too for a few years.

Made of shade.

My maple beast was growing around the powerlines, so the power company cut the tree down, no charge.

Well pooh! I've already planted half a dozen under mine but they were all cheapies. When my husband tilled under the tree we didn't notice many roots and when I dug holes for the hostas I only ran into two small roots. I guess I'll leave the ones I've planted so far but find another place for the others. I was so looking forward to a hosta filled back yard. : (
I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that the emerald ash borers stay away for many years or I'll be giving my hostas to someone else! Wish whoever planted trees on this lot would have made better choices!

The Emerald Ash Borer has made it's presence in upper Illinois so it's only time before it's down in Iowa, if it isn't already here. We haven't seen it in Eastern Iowa yet but I'm betting within a few years it'll be here.

I just heard on the news yesterday that they found it in two counties in Ill. Was it the LaSalle area?

You must not be too far from me. I'm about 30ish miles up river from Davenport.

Now there is another reason to underplant or plant different tree species in your yard. We have added some oaks and a variety of other trees because we too are dependant on some fine ash trees for some of the shade here. It's probably only a matter of time before the bugs reach everyones ash trees so why wait. Plant some trees now and then when and if the ashes fall you will have some shade started for your hostas.
BTW The other 2 maples surround the wires from "their" transformer running to our house and they are none to keen to trim the trees much less cut them down. Not as user- friendly a power company anymore around here. They used to send out crews on a regular basis to trim/cut trees close to wires but we haven't seem them here in several years, we usually have to chop out overhangers ourselves.

I don't know if anyone answered your question,EO,but the dripline of a tree is the edge where the tree branches end,and rain drips off,sorta like the eaves of a house. Phil

The Emerald Ash Borer is all over the city of Chicago and has even reached some of the northern 'burbs like Winnetka and Lake Forest, etc. I am 52 miles northwest of the city and we recently heard it's making its way out here and we're supposed to report it. Don't know how fast it spreads but I'm sure you can google info about it. Start planting.

Westy

Thanks, Phil for answering for me. I posted that and went offline last night. The dripline here is just one long line, because all the pines are huge, over 90 years old, limbed up over the years, and planted in a row on the west side of the property. Of course tree roots are going to be there, at the dripline, and thick, because under the trees it never gets wet, unless we have "sideways rain" in a windy downpour. I always had luck growing Hostas under the pines....there's over 400 of them under there. As I expanded (Ran out of afternoon shade lol) I moved the borders out, and expanded into the dripline. I lost a bunch in one year. Once I figured it out, I was fine.
Start new beds, duh! So I did.
I am talking mature, old pines here..the kind you see in the country they planted as windbreaks years ago, and see lots of turning brown and dying. Mine are lush and green and I know it's because I got this Hosta obsession over 10 years ago, and started watering under those pines, all summer long. Like I said, this has nothing to do with Maples, but alot of people ask about pines, and growing under them. It can be done, just water the heck out of the whole area, not just where the Hostas are, and keep an eye on your plants under there for tree root issues that arise from time to time under the canopy.

Thanks Phil, I had not heard about the dripline problem, makes sense as knowledge usually does when you know.

My father-in-law; "You don't know what you don't know".