Black Walnuts... they emit a chemical that's toxic to most plants.

Spruces.... even when limbed up, usually cast too much shade and allow little/no rain beyond the drip line. Their root system is also quite fibrous.

The beautiful hosta garden at the Springfield Botanical Garden in Springfield, Mo is planted under a grove of black walnuts. Hostas are immune to the juglone they produce, and black walnuts are deep rooted so they don't pose a problem for hostas.

Hackberry trees are fibrous rooted and not hospitable to anything planted under them. Just like maples in that respect.

Sandy

Jugalone which is emitted by Black Walnuts does not effect Hostas. You can plant beneath all types of nut trees. Nut trees and Oaks are considered excellent trees to plant beneath. Magnolias are good also.

All Maples have aggressive shallow root systems, but some more than others. Silver Maples and Norway Maples are notoriously bad. Often times conifers can be difficult as well. The shade produced by most conifers is much more dense than that produced by deciduous trees.

Steve

dogwoods are water suckers too

The worst trees (fibrous surface roots) in my yard are a Black Hills spruce and a white bark birch tree. Otherwise, I have only oaks & pine trees...and some apple trees that we planted, which also seem to have a lot of surface roots, but I don't try to plant underneath them anymore. (I did plant green beans, etc. underneath them the first couple of years after they were planted...mainly so I'd remember to keep them well watered.)

When you guys are referring to maples, are you talking about the larger varieties? How about the smaller Japanese ones? (Lace leaf, Coral bark, etc?)

Maple, ash and spruce are bad for me. Like Steve says, magnolia and oak are the best for me.

Oh. . I did not know about the dogwood, thank you for the warning. I have my Blue Angel planted under a small dogwood. . .she's way to close to the ash tree, too. She's so nice and big I will be worried now. Maybe I better plant another out of the danger zone now. Bummers, there is no hope of moving this one. . . I'm only a five foot old lady. .(hows that for playing the little ole lady card. . hehe)

I'm currently battling fibrous roots under a mature crab apple tree. Just moved one hosta out of the bed and replanted three others in sunken pots. Of course, I came out this morning to find over a dozen plants dug up, so I'm also fighting the local fauna.

Melissa - think of it this way. If hosta are immune to juglone, which I read most nut bearing trees give off (just not as much as Black Walnut) there are less surface things growing that are killed or inhibited by it, to compete with hostas. I know for sure Chestnut and Hickory were mentioned as juglone producers. Black Walnut has really deep roots and I can dig 5 feet from the trunk and not find any. And this is under a still growing tree that now has a drip line near 45 feet in diameter and has in the past 2 years grown to give me another 300-400 sq. ft. of potential hosta bedk with perfectly dappled shade.

The only negative I see about nut bearing trees are falling nuts in regards to hosta gardens. Plus they draw a lot of squirrels which ARE not high on my garden fun list.

Juglone is a defensive matter that inhibits surface plants from stealing moisture from the walnuts deep roots. Maples have a defensive measure also, for the same puirpose. They develop their dense shallow root system that sucks up water before other plants can use it up.

Ergo, any tree with a dense surface root system is BAD for hosta gardening.

Theresa

Sidney1515, since your Blue Angel is older and has grown nice and big where it's planted, I'm guessing that it is well established and able to hold it's own.

In my experience, Shag Bark hickory has a very dense surface root system.

Deb

Cedar, Cedar & Cedar

Wow sidney1515, your BA is a gorgeous hunk!
;-)
Deb

all my hostas around my japanese maples are dead!!!

Sidney, your Blue Angel is not 'pretty big', in my opinion...It's GIGANTIC!

A very beautiful plant.

Don B.

One of my older black walnuts shed two big limbs today, right over a bed with lilies and hostas. Broke the lilies down, in full bud and shredded one hosta. Not sure why it did this but sure was frustrating. Maybe it was too loaded with walnuts.

Sandy

Spruce trees are the worst and most pine or evergreen trees such as White pine or Norway pine are also poor trees to plant under. The Pine type trees have a network of fine fibrous roots that surround the hosta and take up all the nutrition. I also hate poplar(Aspen) as the roots continue underground extending and sending up tree shoots even tho the tree has been removed.If you plant under Pine you must continually fertilize for the hosta to survive. I have been spending this past month removing the hosta from an area that contains this type of root system after observing minimal growth or diminishing size in the plants.

I moved my hostas into the only shady spot we had here and that was under pines. I thought that was a good idea but now I know different. The roots of the trees are strangling some of the hostas so I have to dig them up and move them to another area. Some hostas that are further away from the trees are doing fine. Then there's the root collapse. Some of the hostas have sunk about 2-3". I have to dig up 1/3 of my hostas and move them.

Here is a three clump planting of Elegans under a 40 year old Schwedler (Norway Maple.

Growing hosta under maples is not impossible. You have to choose a hosta that is up to the task. Planting Mouse Ears or Halycone would be futile. I have Elegans under the Schwedler and another planted under a Crimson King Red Maple last year. The Red Maple planting is doing well, but one year is not a true test.

Hosta thrive under my Pig Nut Hickory trees (clump of 4) which is a member of the walnut family. White pines seem to be no impediment to any hosta I have planted. The roots are shallow, but not very dense and hosta roots seem to have no problem going deep and surviving well. Many of these pines are 80-90 feet tall. Obviously if they produce deep shade it would be difficult to grow anything under them.

Jon

I have to agree with being able to plant under pines. It seems to work fone for me! I have a bunch under a white pine that love the shade and natural mulch.

I would say that the Hemlock tree poses a problem for me, but I have placed plants under one anyhow. All my hostas under the hemlocks have survived for now, but that is one dense root system!

There are some varieties of hosta that will thrive under black walnut trees, one of these being the big Blue Angel hostas. This also depends on where you live and your climate. We live in the mountains of western North Carolina and we get a good bit of rain. But juglone, which is the toxic substance that black walnuts put will not affect your Blue Angels at all.

The type of hosta seems to be a factor. I have primarily deciduous oak trees. Some hostas compete well with the oak roots. Others do not. If it shrinks two years in a row, dig it up and move it.

I had 35 various hosta under the maple tree and the first couple years were fine and then noticed they were all getting smaller and smaller. Upon digging them out and separating 5 wheel barrows of hair like roots from the hosta roots it is sitting vacant. I never want to go through that work ever again so I may plant rocks and set my pots on the area now. I was told when I first joined this group but never believed the old timers . They are still fighting to get back to any sort of size again

Has anyone had any experience with growing hostas under staghorn sumacs? I planted several in my hot back yard to offer some shade and to plant my hosta collection that i have been enlarging (in pots) over the last two or three years. Ready to plant them out this fall or spring. Would appreciate any incite - have a lot to plant and would like this to be a success! Thanks.

I have no experience with sumac but given the way they sucker their rhizomes will likely seek out well watered and fertilized hosta.

tj

Many hosta thriving under my Pig Nut (walnut) trees including the notoriously hard to grow Great Expectations. I have a very large Hosta Splendens Siboldiana that thrives under a schwedler maple tree and has for over ten years. - Jon