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I would wait to pull out any green leaves until the weather cools down a little later this autumn. Some of those green-leaved ajugas may convert to the burgundy color as the weather gets cooler. The Ajuga Bronze Beauty has leaves that are pretty much green...sort of a shiny green-ish brown, and it has blue flowers. Bronze Beauty is definitely more invasive than the Burgundy Glow, but it probably won't choke out your hydrangea, since shrubs like hydrangea are pretty tough and have deeper roots than ajuga. The only thing that may be a problem is that the Bronze Beauty and other more invasive ajugas can spread into your lawn, and I've heard they are very hard to get rid of once they get loose in a lawn area. Bronze Beauty may also crowd out your Burgundy Glow somewhat. Also, with an aggressive ajuga like the Bronze Beauty, it would be hard in the future to plant any other types of perennial plants in the same area, since it may choke them out too. An alternative option you may want to try is filling in any bare areas in your Burgundy Glow patch with one of the burgundy-leaved Heucheras/Coral Bells. Heuchera doesn't spread at all like a ground cover, but they come in some really great burgundy colors nowadays, and the leaves will stay burgundy and not turn green. You could try one of these varieties of Heuchera: "Amethyst Mist" "Plum Pudding" "Palace Purple" "Sparkling Burgundy" "Plum Royale" "Midnight Rose" "Berry Smoothie" "Smoky Rose" "Mahogany" These all have burgundy, pinkish, purple, or red-colored leaves. You could even combine a few varieties in the same area. I've planted Heuchera a lot this year in our shady spots and have had good luck with it so far.

I live in Northern IL - Kane County. we have over an AC and the lot is split between full sun and full shade. Due to water issues in the area, we have to choose plants that are drought torrent to survive in our yard! Balloon Flowers have done very well in both shade and full sun. At fist, I wasn't that happy with them as the flowers don't last for a long time, nor do the spread quickly. The GOOD NEWS is this yr. they did very, very well with our sever drought conditions............. I have several that seeded down and were in a location I didn't want them so I really didn't water them and they survived!!! Black -eyed Susan same as above! However, they will wilt down if they don't receive some form of water occasionally. The good news is once you see them start to wilt, give them a little water and they will come roaring back! They will also seed down for you! Another favorate is Purple Cone Flowers, and they come in White, Yellow, RED, and Pink. They have a very nice decorative flower head. And if you deadhead them, they will continue to flower all summer with Little to no maintenance. Just added the Red one's this yr and I love them!!!!! A few other to consider are; Jacob's Ladder, Lavender,Speedwell, Yarrow (long lasting but get tall and gangly, but the bee's and butterfly love it) Best of wishes with your garden! - AL

Tried planting Ajuga (chocoate chip) with no success. I have Pachysandra Terminalis growing great under a maple. After a few years I felt it was spreading too far so i took some good 6 inch wide edging and constrained the growth to where I want it. It looks great. It eats up the leaves that fall on it and takes close to zero care. Yes, they will grow under the edging, but it seems it takes a lot out of them and the small sprouts are easy to keep controlled. When they are held in an enclosure they get high, thick and lush. Nothing else stands a chance. If left to ramble the only thing that will stop it is sunshine and it will not grow out into the sunny areas.