Why anyone felt it was necessary to resurrect and add on to an inactive 12 year old thread is a bit strange........but let me just add this comment. Japanese maples produce shallow and extremely sensitive root systems that resent any sort of disturbance. In fact, it is extremely easy to introduce often fatal disease issues by damaging these roots. So whatever one chooses to underplant their JMs with, it should be something that can be left undisturbed and with non-invasive roots. No annuals that require yearly replacement or perennials that will need frequent division. Smaller, non-suckering shrubs are fine but should be planted simultaneous to the maple. Or any low growing, shallow rooted groundcover.

Personally I find both of these bugs difficult to kill with only spraying, although I do find spraying useful as a deterrent and secondary measure. I find it much more effective to get out the Q-tip and alcohol and go over the plants painstakingly, swabbing away any offenders. Then I spray with neem and soap water every third day for a couple of weeks. It is a good idea to consider these bugs in the same light as feline ear mites. It seems to me that they can go into some kind of hibernation and re-manifest once the conditions are right. I am not saying it's impossible to erradicate them completely, but they do often seem to spontaneously reappear 6 months later after you have completed a successful extermination cycle (even if you grow indoors and haven't introduced any new plants in the meantime). Maybe these are errant invaders that flew in through the window, but I think it's simply a dormant survivor. I have tried a couple of times to find a good article explaining this but it's hard to research because there are so many many many casual articles to wade through before you get one with some real science in it.

Thanks for the bump, Carrie! I just sent a message to the G.W. technical department asking if they could fix it so that the link to the instructions for posting pictures on the Cottage Garden Forum would stay at the top. They stay on the top of the page on the cottage forum.

Welcome to the world of gardening! You've gotten some good ideas. Here are a few other things to consider. For color Katie ruella is a good little border plant. It's a dwarf and comes in purple, pink and white and will bloom in just about any conditions. Mexican Oregano blooms almost year round in those same conditions for me. Texas Betony is good. I see you already have Mealy blue sage that seems to be liking it there. There are other sages to consider. Also ornamental grasses such as the purple fountain grass you already have. Some grasses grow nicely under trees such as inland sea oats for me For something with a little height consider some of the Texas native understory trees. I think Possomhaw holly does very well in the Houston area. It has bright red berries in fall and winter. Mexican red bud stays small for me and blooms heavily in the spring. Anacacho Orchid Tree is a lovely little white blooming understory tree that butterflies love. You may have to make your bed a little wider to accomadate all the nice things you'll find to grow there. Sorry I don't have any experience with Virginia sweetspire. Beauty berry might be nice in the corner. It gets very large here in San Antonio in full sun, but in part sun would be smaller. Check out some of the plants on the site linked below plus a local privately owned nursery would be able to make more suggestions. Also visiting a botanical center and seeing whats growing well in similar conditions that you have is very helpful. Here is a link that might be useful: Natives of Texas