Hello!
I don't know how much help this will be but,,

Most woodland plants will have shallow roots so you won't have to dig down real far. Most pines are ok with root disturbance as long as your not digging gigantic holes:)

As for plants, jack in the pulpits are nice( they are (somewhat) poisonous if eaten and you should wash your hands after handling plants and seeds.)Also hostas look great under pine trees. You can also look into jacob's ladder,ferns, columbines, geraniums(cranesbill). Campanulas look great in woodland settings. Woodland pink root, bird's foot violet are also great woodland plants too.
I hope this helps!
Nina

You'd need to define how much digging you plan on doing. Individual small holes wouldn't be an issue, digging the whole the area up would. Do you know what type of pine you have? Under my mature Austrian Pines I grow Hosta, Actaea, Epimedium, Ferns, Japanese Maples, Viburnum, Serviceberry and Solomon's Seal to name a few.

tj

The trees have shallow roots, too. Most people aren't aware of that, thinking that they go straight down. Some do, but the 'feeder' roots are always near the surface where the oxygen, water, and nutrients are. Even lawns pose direct competition with tree roots.

thanks for the help. I'll try some of the plants mentioned and let ya'll know how I'm doing. We have lots of trees so I'll start small and work from there. I think the trees are loblolly pine. Hope ya'll are keeping warm. The weather has been very cold and wet here. I'm not complaining at least we haven't had snow.

Brenda
NOLA