It seems counter-intuitive, but rhododendrons will grow near maples - I've been growing them under, around and near sugar and Norway maples for 30 years. The maples need to be limbed up so the rhododendrons receive sufficient light. Do not dig a hole for planting. Instead, use an 8-10" depth of partially decomposed bark or another coarse but moisture retentative medium right on top of the ground and plant into it. The rhododendrons will need to be watered during dry spells (and even after rain if the maple canopy has acted as an umbrella) and will need to be fertilized in early spring. The mulch needs to be topped up yearly. They probably grow more slowly than they would without the maples' root competition, but they will grow. Some of mine are in the 7' to 10' range. The dense, fibrous root systems of rhodendrons do not grow deeply or widely. As long as the roots are kept moist and receive low doses of fertilizer the plants will flourish. This is undeniably a fairly high maintainence planting, especially the water requirements. If that's not practical, some of the tough, drought resistant ground covers suggested by others would probably be a better solution. The least labor/time/care intensive solution would be mulch and shade tolerant plants in containers.

I live in suburban eastern Iowa. My neighbor had a 'Fall Fiesta' sugar maple planted in her front yard earlier this year. There used to be a huge (50 ft tall x 60 ft wide), ugly locust tree in that area, but it rotted and died over the last few years. The new maple should be a beautiful tree. It just started turning orange. She already has a (45 ft x 25 ft) maple (red maple?) in the backyard, which was planted in the 1990s, that turns darkish red. The only thing I am concerned about is the size of the new tree. I didn't really want her to plant such an enormous tree in a small lot like ours. She's in her 60s so she won't be around to see it get 70 ft tall, but I might (40s). At least the new tree is north of my yard and not south. There is one thing I'm curious about. This new sugar maple was planted only about 5 ft from where the old locust tree grew. The locust tree had a huge stump and thick near-surface roots going out in all directions. The stump was ground out, but there are still spots of thick wood only a few feet from the new maple tree. I wonder how that will affect the new tree's growth.

You did discover the problem. Many reports have been posted on this web site, which list that a tree often times will survive if planted too deeply, but even though it survives, its growth and development will be stunted. It is good to know that the rootflair is not circling and in good form. When you raise the tree, use a heavy tonged short handled garden fork and pack lots of soil beneath the rootball. Try to do this from one or two sides only, so you will not have to raise the root ball completely out of the soil. Your tree should end up being high enough that the soil level covering the rootball is just under the spot on the trunk where the topmost root of the rootfare is growing out of that trunk. Then once the base soil is compacted enough not to settle more and over time not to let the tree sink too low again; simply dig away enough soil from one side of the root ball so you can use a sharp knife to cut about and inch deep from the top of the rootball to the bottom. After doing that, fill the dirt back in on that side of the rootball. Repeat the digging, cutting, and filling back in process for three more times, until you end up having made 4 cuts evenly space all around the rootball. Finally, pound three 6 feet tall "T" stakes evenly space around the tree's trunk and about 10 to 12 inches away from the trunk. Secure the tree to the stakes with non bark-damaging ties, but keep the ties slack enough for the tree to still be able to sway some during prevailing winds and wind gusts. Check and adjust these ties every month, or before if it can be clearly seen that the tree needs to be adjusted to prevent too much trunk lean and/or too much sway that could make the new roots growing out from the root ball become broken out of the new soil. This breakage might occur from too much root stress if the entire length of the trunk is allowed to trunk whips back and forth with the wind. Be patient with your tree, because many reports describe sugar maples trees as being slow to establish. You will know your tree finally is well established once you begin to see it growing at least a foot each year. If you have continued to adjust the ties by tightening or loosening the slack as the tree indicates is needed; by that time when the tree shows it is well adjusted, then the tree should be able to handle the the removal of ties. After you end up doing that watch the tree, and if it does well then you can also remove the stakes. If not, you will need to retie the tree, but maybe by that time only two or one of the stakes will need to be secured to the tree with ties. If that happens then each month try to increase the slack in the ties a little more each time, until you notice the tree probably no longer needs to be staked.

What you are saying makes sense to me +oM about the thinning of trees and that they "will fight you back if you try to change that ratio too much." And I see that you understand exactly what I mean when you said that you had a large silver maple in your backyard and that the "hostas grew a little each year.....smaller, that is! So that is an issue." Absolutely, right on! That has happened in my backyard with almost everything I have tried to grow. Also, if I think about adding raised beds, my husband says that I am blocking the drainage flow. And if I were to remove my grass and add spin out material, that would be expensive and would perhaps damage the root system of these Sugar Maples. Seems like I can't win. So my solution has been to use pots. Now for certified arborist #2 who came today. He stated first of all that he was not able to do any thinning for us due to the proximity of our hydro wires. He said that I would have to get a company that had a special permit to do this and said that I needed to ask whether that company was insured. He said that since he was here anyways, he would answer questions that I had. Question #1: What are the chances that the city would allow me to cut down one tree? Answer: He said it was hard to say because the city has granted approval to cut trees that he thought they never would. If they did allow one of these trees to be removed, then he thought they would require one or maybe even two to be planted as replacements. I forgot to ask about the crown dying on one of them. Darn!!! Question #2: Can these maples be trimmed and thinned out? Answer: Now this was the interesting part for me. He said that there were some dead branches to be removed and that a bit of thinning could be done. But he also said that each of these trees had a water sprout---I had never heard of that before---and that those could be removed and would probably allow a bit more sunlight into the yard. So I googled water sprout and took some pictures for you to see. Do you really think that removal of this water sprout would be a good idea? It's not that small of a branch anymore. Here is Tree #1. The water sprout is the limb on the right. Tree #2. The water sprout is the limb on the right. I would love to hear some comments!