Planting under Pines and Japanese. Maples

Hi ho! I am in Maryland which is heaven! It is wonderful to be warm and not cold! The birds, the bees, the weather oh just lovely!

Ok so here is my question, I have two pine trees and a Japanese that I want to plant something under. It can't be anything deer would eat because I have too much of that already lol. I would like something that would flower but I just can't get anything into my head that resembles an idea for this!

Any ideas?

I would also be interested in a response to this. I have a friend who just asked me what she could plant in her bed under 3 pine trees. I thought azaleas and hostas did well under the acidic pines, but she said she tried those and they died. Now, did they die because of rodents or lack of proper care is another question I didn't ask.
If anyone has had good luck with something let me know, especially if it is a bloomer. She did say tulips have come up. I am trying to get her stuff that will bloom in spring, summer, and fall to give her the most color.

I got this list googling, it's kind of the usual suspects, and I don't think deer would mind eating any of them, unfortunately.
Azaleas
Hydrangea
Rhododendron
Bleeding heart
Hosta
Variegated ivy
Groundcover strawberry*
Lily-of-the-valley

It's just so dry under a pine... I planted azaleas and hostas under a big White Pine last year, and I've been careful to water them but one of the azaleas has lost some branches. Guess I'll see what happens this year.

*It's funny strawberry made this list, some kind of strawberry-looking plant already grows under my tree.

Vinca Minor, Beautiful ground cover evergreen leaves with blue flowers. I have this all around my evergreens. Also I have daffs and hosta planted on the edges of my grouping. This pic was taken just the other day.

I have the same type of area, white pines (which are limbed up, so that helps a little) & a maple, on a western exposure (occasional strong winds), w/ huge oaks & maples behind them at the public park. The soil is terrible, solid clay, dry, roots-the things that have survived for me so far-Japanese maples, camellias, viburnam, pieris japonica, nandina, hydrangeas (these need extra water, they do better in the 'boggy' spot in the corner-ditto for clethra & buttonbush),fargesia robusta, & I've just planted a jujube, which is leafing out. I plan on planting a few pawpaws this fall. I've only started my compost pile in the last year, I'd love to pile on as much as I can produce, to add organic matter to the soil...

I also was wondering about this and read that you need to plant 6 feet out from the tree trunk, I guess so anything you plant won't interfere with the roots. Is that the case??

Hmm, no thanks of the vinca, aka perriwinkle I am still pulling that one out of my other flower beds! Naughty plant that one. I am hoping for something less then the usual stuff that google would give because usually that equals more buffet time for the deer and my poor hand does tire from spraying the liquid fence year round! The soil under there is a lot of things, but dry isn't one of them. There is so much pine straw and leaf mulch under these trees they are just begging to be planted under, beautiful stuff really. I am thinking some epimediums and perhaps some foam flowers as the trees are well limbed up, at least the pines. The maple, well still wondering about that one!

Have you seen the heucherillas? They're a cross between heucheras and foam flowers. Very pretty with much prettier flowers than the foam flowers.

Here's some things I think are beautiful for moist shade - polygonatum (Solomon's seal), any of the polygonums with pretty bottlebrush flowers, ligularias (absolutely gorgeous), Virginia sweetspire, Virginia bluebells, Jack in the pulpit, trilliums, turtlehead, foxgloves and pulmonarias.

Ok, if it's moist, I'd try pulmonaria, epimedium, tricyrtris, heucheras, (& heucherellas & tiarellas), ferns, bletilla triata, sarcococca, & I have an evergreen Solomon's seal (disporopsis pernyi) that looks great...