What will grow under Norway maples?

11 years ago

Here is the range of responses to this question ranging from nothing to quite a selection. The low light, dry soil, surface roots and the seedlings present a challenge. (Limbing up (removing lower branches) and planting away from the trunk will improve your choices. (Ed.)

Nothing seems to grow under a mature Norway Maple. I would cut it down, buy a new tree and start from scratch. I hate to be so negative but I've had to do it.

It is dry in the shade of just about any maple, but Norway Maples in particular cast very dense shade. You might be able to get something to grow under there, but it will be a real challenge finding plants that can take the lack of moisture and light.

My grass does grow quite well under it

We have Elephant Ear, Caladium, Coleus, Impatiens, Azaleas and Lilies growing under our Norway Maple The Azaleas and spring bulbs have bloomed before the tree leafs out completely and the others grow wonderfully in the moist/shady conditions provided by the dense canopy. (Moist shade? Ed.)

Epimediums are an excellent choice for dry shade.

I started a shade garden under 30 year old maple about 4 years ago. The farther from the base of the tree, the more will grow and the more lush the plants. What has grown best for me, Hosta and Christmas fern. For spring flowers hardy Geraniums "Karmina" and "Biokovo". I planted them last year and they not only tripled in size but bloomed profusely. Stay away from most Astilbe, they need moisture. They may "exist" but will not perform. I have had luck with one variety, though, A. Chinensis. It is dwarf, blooms in August, and has spread into a nice ground cover. Toad lilies for fall. I really love them. You may want to give Plumbago larpentae (Certostigma plumbaginoides) a try. It is now in bloom at the base of the tree.

Don't plant too close, and plant so you'll get some sun. But you'll always have to pull up gazillions of unwanted seedlings every spring, And you'll always have to remove the leaves in the spring, since maple leaves compact and plants can't grow through them.

I have had luck with Iris, Lamium, specimen grasses (Miscanthus), Columbines, Penstemmon, Sedums, Pansies, Violas, and Geraniums (Johnsons blue and natives) in dry shade. I also only set out small plants that do not require me to dig deep holes.

I grow Daffodils and Bluebells under maples and also find that Azaleas and Camellias do well as flowering shrubs. My Hellebores also love living in the mulch. My neighbor has success with Japanese anemonies, also known as windflowers

Pulmanaria does well for me under dense lilacs

Thalictrum does great under dry shade. My Toad Lily needs a lot of moisture

Sweet Williams are growing wonderfully under my Maple...as are Daffodils, Hyacinth's (including the little Grape Hyacinth), Solomons Seal, Day Lily, Widows Tears (or Trinity Plant), Shasta Daises, Astilbe, Hostas (Sum and Substance), Coreopsis (Sunray), Creeping Phlox too.

Another strong plant that tolerates these conditions is Lamiastrum 'Herman's Pride' (the one that is NOT invasive)--beautiful silvery green foliage and pretty yellow flowers in spring
But Dicentra (wild and common) do fine, as do Toad Lilies, Solomons Seal, Filipendula, several ornamental grasses, of course ferns, Heuchera, Aconitum (Monkshood), Epimediums, Yews, Pieris andromeda, Kalmia (Mountain Laurel), shade-loving vines.

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Anything you plant is going to be in competition for moisture so if you amend the soil freely and plant invasive type plants like vinca or ajuga you could have success but I'd watch out for it incroaching into areas you don't want it to be in. Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials
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The only tree I have on my urban lot is what I thought was a Norway maple. It takes up an entire corner of my yard, so pretty much a quarter of my property. It took a while to do the entire area, but I have a pathway walking straight towards the trunk that then splits into two paths, one going off to the side where I have a deck and the other simply circles the tree and joins the other path. I have lamium, hay scented ferns, blue columbines, corydalis lutea, fringed bleeding hearts, and a couple hosta growing right at the base of the tree and then under the rest of the canopy to either side of the path I have more of the same, plus brunnera, 5 or 6 other ferns, epimediums, European ginger, creeping forest type phloxes, dozens of hosta varieties, Solomon's Seal, Jacob's ladder, lungwort, sweet woodruff, Lady's mantle, and toad lillies. I do have to water during dry spells and in some areas the plants barely flower, if at all, but they're green and growing and better than clay, rocks, and weeds, which is what was there when I started. I keep a thick layer of cedar mulch around everything but I plan on switching to shredded leaves for mulch once I get a shredder. I do realize you can't heap soil and mulch ontop of tree roots without killing the tree so I didn't go crazy, but the couple inches of mulch I have down has been there for 5-6 years now and the tree is fine. In some areas I dug the ground over, but in others I was lucky I could hack a hole in the cement-like clay and masses of roots big enough to shoehorn the plant in. In that area I stuck with cast iron plants like the hay scented ferns and basic hostas like lancifolia - nothing fussy. I figured what lives lives and I'll worry about replacing what dies. Nothing's died yet! Lisa
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Such a bummer... looks like I will have to give away the hemlocks. There were so many roots when I dug the hole I could hardly dig. It took me 2 hours to plant 2 small dwarf hemlocks. But I thought that's the case with all big trees? Like I see plants under oaks and stuff so I thought maple would be fine too. So are you all saying I should give up on gardening my backyard where the maple is? Right now I have Several newly planted plants under the canopy of this maple. There are 3 forsythias(they still get a lot of sun believe it or not) 1 Japanese plum yew, the 2 dwarf hemlocks I was talking about, and a fireglow Japanese maple. So let me ask this, which is worse for the plants: the maple giving too much deep shade? Or the shallow roots sucking up all the water?
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Thank you, Akamainegrower, I'll look into those books. My local library might even have them in stock. I recall there being a few books on shade gardening. JPM995, maybe the stream will keep the roots directed that way, and less vigorously toward the new plantings. As a additional note, I was cleaning out a bed on the other side of our yard yesterday, in part to transplant a purple rhododendron that was growing into some yews, and I stopped to realize that up until last year we had a very old, large Norway Maple that was becoming diseased and was losing many limbs, and so we had it cut down. I had forgotten about it actually. But, all surrounding and indeed right next to this Norway Maple were planted many years ago various yews, arborvitae, boxwood, a few rhododendron, and a bit further away blue and Norway spruces. And these plants did very well under this large tree. The yews for instance grew quite big. Yes, some of the arborvitae maybe weren't as full as possible due to the shade, but for the most part everything took nicely. And everything planted is 15-20 years old. Then, I thought of another area, where we lost again a Norway maple during Hurricane Sandy and similarly where we had planted a lot of shrubs and small trees. While this bed did not coexist with the maple as long as the first bed I've mentioned, only 5+ years, the plants within it seemed to do fine also. And almost everything planted was left-over, second nursery stock, so not always the healthiest plants to begin with. Perhaps the plants did okay simply because they were individual Norway maples, rather than a woods of them, and so received light and water sufficiently. Or perhaps the more mature the tree, the less vigorous the roots (though I doubt this). The only other reason I can think of is in these areas we have always watered them quite regularly, in fact maybe too much. We've reduced our watering the last few years, but maybe that extra care and attention was what allowed these plants to establish themselves well, despite the invasive tree. And maybe once established, they can hold their own. Granted the rhodo I removed yesterday had started to sprout more vigorously this year, without the tree there, but I'd say it still wasn't bad all that time. Whatever the reason the bed managed under the maple, I am a bit more hopeful in being able to deal with whatever trees have to stay. Joe
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What will grow under Norway maples?

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