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.

Well, If I had room for only one, I guess the Q. Rubra N. Red oak would be it. The branches will get thicker and not slope down. If you have room the Pin oak has great fall color for me as Beng has mentioned. The Nuttall's is a red oak family oak, and mine have still got their leaves on them although they are brownish red, I'm happy with them. I know fall color is nice to have, and is the reason some add certain trees to their yard, but, I have to say, I have a Quercus Velutina with great form, and it got kinda orange for a while this fall, one over the mountains had yellow fall color, but, the form of the tree was perfect, even if mine never has much fall color, I just love it's form, and can't wait for it to mature. I can't help but think that starting an oak from an acorn puts the tree at an advantage. I know they grow laterals etc. I know that they do, but, Dax sent me an acorn for a Burr oak, and I direct sowed the acorn, and I have seen articles saying Burr oak sometimes have taproots that go down 7 feet sometimes. Okay, whatever, maybe this one hasn't got a taproot that deep, but, I do know that, if there is a drought that lasts a while, I do not have to baby that seedling, and that Burr seedling doesn't have to take a year or 2 to replace roots instead of putting out growth. If I can choose, I'll choose direct sowing seed. I am going to direct sow Hickory seeds after seeing a post on here where the kid is holding a Hickory in a very long pot, and the taproot is longer than the pot. I am sure the trees will be okay in a rootmaker pot etc. But, I would rather keep that taproot in situ if I am not moving the seedling anyhoo, ya know? I am not knocking the way some peeps do it, but my choice is direct sow. There are situations it must be done in pots. Poaky1

Trees are major competitors for nutrients and water. If you're striving to grow huge, luscious hostas, you'll have to control or eliminate root competition. Some folks have inquired about installing a root proof barrier. Although there are a variety of techniques to deal with the problem, the method(s) you may choose to employ is determined by the amount of work and money you're willing to expend. For my gardens, I prefer installing a continuous liner that cannot be penetrated by tree roots. Of course, it's much easier to do so during the installation of a new flower garden than with an existing one. First, you'll have to dig out the top soil where your new flower bed will be. Determine what depth you desire. Large hostas that are well-grown can have a fairly deep root system. I like my top soil to be at least 2 feet deep, even deeper if I can. Rake the bottom of the hole flat and smooth. Now you're ready to install the liner. A variety of materials is suitable, and what you go with depends primarily upon your budget. The cheapest is to pick up an old swimming pool liner (or solar cover) from someone's trash, or find one on Craigslist. I see a lot of them throughout the summer. However, a really old one can be brittle, so check it out before you haul it home. The next cheapest would be a sheet of heavy black plastic. But that can be puntured or torn fairly easy. A better option is a poly tarp, which will last quite a while underground where no UV light can cause it to deteriorate. Poly tarps are available in different thicknesses and sizes, up to 40' x 60'. Buy the industrial strength one if you can afford it, and get one large enough to cover the whole flower bed. An alternative option for a liner is landscape fabric. The commercial grade stuff is much thicker and is available in a 6 ft. or 12 ft. wide roll, 300 ft. long. And finally, the best material for a root proof barrier is a synthetic rubber liner which can be purchased from a water garden supplier (a "pond liner") or from a roofing supplier because the same material is used on flat roofs. It will last much longer than any of the other previously mentioned materials, and the seams can be glued tight so there's no chance for roots to get through. Regardless of the material you choose, proper installation of the liner is essential. Any breech- the slightest tear or hole- will seriously compromise its integrity. Seams must be impervious. The liner must come all the way up out of the ground, and can be fastened to a strip of lawn edging or landscape timber if desired. Be careful not to puncture the liner with a shovel or garden stake once it's installed. Beside preventing root competition, a liner has additional benefits. By in large, a liner keeps out ground moles which otherwise would be tunneling through your flowers. And if the liner is leak proof, it can serve as a constant water reservoir, reducing the frequency and expense of regular irrigation. Hope that helps answer some questions about installing a root proof liner. Don

My neighbor had their 10" tree hard pruned. Now only 1/3 of the branches sent leaves. Others are dead branches. Your tree seems stunned. Since it drops only 1/2 of the leaves,there is still hope.