Plant's in shade around and under pine tree's????

I have a back lot abot 3/4 of an acre that i want to plant the whole lot in flower's and shrub's and Tree's. Only thing is i would love to just go in and have cleared and start from scratch. Except for the few good tree's i do have on it. Only thing is I am out of work and can't afford to do that. So i will be clearing myself little by little and trying to turn it into a thing of beauty. Only thing is alot of it (not all) is pine's. I could clear under these pretty easy. Only thing is will anything grow under or around them? Might could take a few Pine's out for more sunshine,but don't want to take to many down if i can grow around or under them. Any help will be appriecated.
God Bless,
Keith

Hostas and Lily of the Valley love shade, and spread or (for Hostas) can be divided regularly. Astilbes probably would do well, also.

Bkeith0,
Off the top of my head~
-Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)
-Epimediums
-Lily of the valley ( I agree with spartacusably) But, might be too dry for Astilbe, will depend on your site.
-ground cover called wintergreen (don't know the Botanical name)

I have a friend who is using variegated and also plain green comfrey in the shade under pines. I had never seen that done but it was blooming its head off when I visited in May. If you use the variegated you have some foliage interest also.

It would be best if you could get some sun or part sun into the garden. Not much will grow under pine because of its root system being so competitive and the acidity caused by needle drop. If you have the ability to water that will help some.

You could try plants like columbine and thalictrum or meadow rue.

I got sweet woodruf from a garden where it grew under mature pine trees. It's light green looked so nice against golden pine needles.
In my yard, I have a young pine (I think it's Pinus strobus), which does not produce dense shade, but the area is shaded by tall oaks from the south-east. Under that pine tree I have planted wild giner and hostas. They do well. Solomon's seal and wild geranium were there before and of cause Jacks in the pulpit, which seem to be poping out all over my back yard.




This message was edited Jun 7, 2006 12:50 PM

I love Pachysandras. They're evergreen in my zone (6) and very easy care.

Hi - here's a pic of my garden directly under a Pine - the big trunk on the left is a pine, and the group of trunks in the top right are a different form of pine. You can see the hosta, pachysandra, ferns, and impatiens. You can't see that on the far left, out of the picture, is the rest of the bed where astilbe and caladium are in the midst of more hosta. The tree is approximately 65 feet tall. However, the pines are trimmed up quite a bit, so the shade is not as dense. I might suggest that you trim your trees up some to give more varieties of plants a good chance to survive - Dax

I grow my hardy gingers right in between the roots at the base of pine trees, practically in the dark. If you have a tree with nothing else in front of it, on the side maybe, the gingers look nice encircling it. Asarum arifolium, or Little Brown Jug, has fairly good-sized leaves and spreads a little more quickly than the fancy cultivars.

-Greg

Thank's everyone for the help so far....Dax i really like the picture and the way you have thing's look's nice. I have some really nice hosta's out back already going to try and figured out how to seperate those and then add some of the suggestion's i have gotten already.
God Bless,
Keith