Sorry to hear about the confrontation with the neighbor. It's always good to have those survey markers put in so everything's clear from the start. But that's all in the past, so I hope your neighbor will calm down soon. We have a lot of those large oaks in our neighborhood, none with the classic shape, but it does give a nice dappled shade in which to garden and relax. The mulch is a good idea, but I'd like to see a grouping of plants there under the tree, sort of drawn out so they look natural - you can use understory trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs. The following are listed as thriving best in fertile, humusy soil with good drainage and light shade (4-6 hours of sun) and are also deer resistant (but remember that deer will eat just about anything if hungry enough); those with an asterisk can take more shade. A lot will depend on whether that oak is "limbed-up" and the amount of dappled sunlight coming through the canopy. Understory Trees: Amelanchier* (serviceberry), eastern redbud, witchhazel Shrubs: Caryopteris, Japanese Plum Yew, daphne*, grape holly, leucothoe, pieris*, skimmia japonica*, snowberry Perennials, biennials, bulbs, etc. Monkshood*, columbine, jack-in-the-pulpit, astilbe*, baptisia australis, boltonia, brunnera*, northern sea oats*, cimicifuga*, corydalis*, dicentra*, digitalis purpurea, ferns, euphorbia, filipendula (meadow sweet), sweet woodruff*, hakonechloa macra (golden variegated hakone grass), helleborus*, blue oat grass, daylily, candytuft (iberis sempervirens), siberian iris, Virginia bluebells* (mertensia virginica), monarda, forget-me-not (myosotis alpestris), daffodils, mondo grass*, pennisetum, polemonium* (Jacob's ladder), pulmonaria* (lungwort), rodgersia, celadine poppy*, tiarella*, tradescantia, trillium, rhubarb. Groundcovers: ajuga reptans* (bugleweed), lily-of-the-valley*, spotted deadnettle*, pachysandra*, obedient plant, mayapple, As you can see, your options are rather limited ;-) Pieris is one of my favorites - evergreen, early flower clusters, quite hardy and pest & disease resistant when grown in at least partial shade, many varietes now from which to choose. Wouldn't be without those spring bulbs. Tiarella blooms for at least a month here, and the dicentra eximia (fernleaf, or wild, bleeding heart) blooms all season except for the hottest part of summer. Polemonium and cimicifuga can give some height. Leucothoe is another favorite - evergreen, low maintenance, different varieties available. Amelanchier has many good attributes; it has lovely white flowers in the spring, followed by berries that the birds love, and some varieties have excellent fall color. If you get impatient for spring, consider a hellebore or two; they take a while to get established, but some varieties start blooming here in February and hold those blooms a very long time. As the sun moves across the sky, so moves the shade cast by the tree. Many shade plants appreciate morning sun and afternoon shade. Remember that anything you plant will be competing with the oak for nutrients and water, so, unless you pick plants that prefer dry shade, you'll want to compensate for that. Best of luck ... I think you could wind up with a lovely spot there ... you might even eventually decide to put a garden bench or a few Adirondack chairs in the vicinity.

Thank you for specifying where you live. The LA area and SoCal are not descriptive enough for lawn advice in the Southland. And as it happens I used to live between Aviation and the 405 on 121st street, so I'm fairly familiar with "late night and early morning low fog and clouds near the coast burning off around eleven with the sea breeze picking up by two and a high in the seventies." That monotonous daily weather report helps to define your lawn growing zone. The problem with the Marathon II is that it is a dwarf and a fescue. Fescues don't repair themselves period, and dwarf fescues are much worse. Marathon II is the dwarfier version of Marathon. Marathon III is the dwarfier version of what you have. It was a good choice except for the wear and tear of your children. You have the advantage of living in a spot where any grass can grow well. We call those transition zones. There is a big one from the central Atlantic coast inland to the Mississippi and slightly west. But living in that climate does not mean any grass WILL grow well under YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES. Your circumstances are kids and shade. If you did not have that much shade I was going to suggest Kentucky bluegrass. KBG is they type of grass that forms a fairly dense carpet of grass and refills the worn spots by itself. Since you have shade, that's out. Also out, among the sod forming grasses, is bermuda. Bermuda is the best grass for wear and tear but it really needs 8 hours of strong sun per day. The remaining alternative is St Augustine. St Aug is a coarse bladed grass, unlike all the previously mentioned grasses. But it should be the best possible alternative turf under the filtered shade. I could suggest some varieties of St Augustine but you have to buy what you can find locally. What you don't want is the full sun variety called Floratam. But, having said that, you could put that in your full sun area and a more shade tolerant variety under the tree. The different varieties will blend together at the borderline what you put them and you'll never notice the transition. You should probably stay away from a dwarf variety. Here is a work in progress to describe the various varieties. If you decide to go with St Aug, you will be able to water once every other week. Some of the dwarf varieties are shown as fast growing. That means they grow fast to recover from damage. They don't grow tall, they grow horizontally fast. Again, you'll have to visit some nurseries to see what they sell. Then you can pick knowing what to expect from the available choices.

This is not new grass but I'm trying to repair the grass that was currently there. Its a high traffic area especially for the dog. I believe the lack of any direct sunlight makes the problem worse. Parts of the grass where it looks yellowish/burned, I think is where the dog pees regularly. In areas, where its completely bare the dog's running and lack of sunlight compound the problem. As far as the type of grass there currently, I really don't know what kind. I have bought several different types of grass seeds from Osh and will try this last batch that the guy at Osh (who in fact is a gardener, as compared to Home Depot where everybody there is basically useless) for fast growing grass. From the comments, I believe the high traffic and running of my dog is the main issue. I think I will need to block that area off for awhile to let the grass grow back. Any suggestions on a dog resistant grass, although that may be a losing battle.

Also, is it total shade, filtered sun, or partial sun? I have a shady back yard that gets 2 hours of sun during different times of day. I have some asiatic lilies planted that get two hours of sun and they do fine. Some of your lemon lime colored hostas (Sum & Substance) would do fine with that amount of sun, too. But, it gets really big - 6' across and 4' high. Leaves are between 1'-2' long and wide. All perennials. Campanulas would probably do all right, too. Agastache foeniculum should be fine there as well. Might get a bit leggy, but it will bloom fine and attract the honeybees that we need so badly right now. These are perennial and reseeding plants. Hydrangeas (the dwarf varieties) can probably take that amount of sun, too. But think about the name - hydra - which means water, and they like a lot of it. Perennial Some salvias will also do okay. My 'Black & Blue' salvia does just great with a small amount of sun during the day. It's a gorgeous plant, too! It is perennial here. My coneflowers do okay too with just a little bit of sun. There are so many beautiful cultivars out there now as well. Perennial Clematis can take a lot of shade as well. They would be pretty climbing up thru your hedge. But they need their feet to be shaded, so mulch them well. Some varieties need more sun than others, so do you research on them. Holly ferns would grow fine - they can take a bit more sun than other ferns, and they are so pretty. No flowers, but the foliage is a bright shiny green. You can get them reasonably cheap at Home Depot or Lowe's. Susan