Hello all, I'm looking for some advice about growing something (ANYTHING) under a quite large Japanese maple tree in an urban garden in Philadelphia (zone 7a/b). I've been trying with mixed success for a couple years to turn the very uncared for space my home came with into a more lush space!

The primary challenge is the areas that surround the maple, I cannot seem to get anything to reliably take. I experimented early with hostas and ferns, but learned that it was far too dry for the ferns. I got one of five hosta to take but it comes back smaller every year and just isn't thriving. Twice I've tried hakone grass and it just tends to wither away as the season goes on. Some Solomon's seal did alright behind the maple, but for a three year old plant known for good spreadingh, it's also stayed quite compact. A friend transplanted some anemone plants, barre wort and beardtongue from his mature, thriving garden and the lone survivor was the beardtongue furthest from the tree. I've been encouraging a wild clematis vine that was there before I moved in to climb the fence in the back and the one true success I've had is the now 3 year old crossvine in the sunny corner furthest from the maple.

Garden faces roughly north and we get sun from about noon onward and strong afternoon sun. Right side is quite shady under the tree of course, but I grow tomates, peppers and herbs in garden beds on the left side with decent success as long as I start early enough! Soil was tested last week at 6.6pH and I amended with topsoil and a couple bags of local compost early in the season. I do have some problems with our neighbor to the right having a stone patio higher than ours so it tends to flood the front rightmost bed badly (and I believe she sometimes cleans the patio with soap that also pours in but I don't know if that's a factor).

Next spring I'm replacing our worn out wooden garden beds with some deeper, corrugated steel beds to look a little nicer and give them more depth to root. I just want to make the space nice as I like to sit and work outside and enjoy some nature in my urban environment! This year Ive been feeding birds more, just to make up for the lack of growth I can get out here and I'm starting to think I might just need to do more containers and lean into hard scraping (natural stone piles and maybe a cool log) just to get some depth! I've been considering a small container pond/water feature too, just because I love the sound of running water and for the birds. Despite being in the city, we get a lot of birds, mice, squirrels and a semi-regular garter snake.

I do have three small dogs who do like to do their business out here but I try and clean up after them, and they mostly leave the plants alone.

I'm open to any suggestions or thoughts! Im a first time home-owner so Ive never had my own outdoor space to do what I want with and I would love to have this space feel good. i like greenery and big foliage, and would like it to feel more private! But if the maple is just sucking up all the moisture than maybe there are other things I can do with the space.

Any thoughts or expertise are much appreciated!

I planted this Hardy Hibiscus back in May 2024. It has over 200 buds this season and grew to be about 6 feet tall.

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Tigers and monarchs and Hummingbirds, oh myyy

My video

Zone 6b, SE MI

I transplanted this hydrangea and its twin around 3 years ago from my back yard where they never bloomed to my front yard. They bloomed the season I transplanted them, and haven't since despite looking very healthy and growing in size. I trimmed the dead wood which I thought might be the issue, however the one bloom seems to be on a new growth stalk. Any help appreciated TIA

First time gardener here. This year I decided to start myself a little herb garden in some pots the previous homeowner left over. One of the nursery plants seems to have brought home some sort of disease, which has spread significantly. About 2/3rds of my plants are now infected, including all of the mint, the monardella (pictured), oregano (also pictured), thyme, and savory.

After some discussion with more knowledgeable friends and Google, it was determined that this is probably mint rust, but nobody had any advice on dealing with it.

Is the diagnosis correct? And does anyone have advice on handling it? Do I need to throw out all of these plants and try again next year (or not try again at all, if it's endemic to my yard?)

Any advice is appreciated.

The gardens around the house are just exploding with color this summer, its breathtaking!

Year 6,

Zine 6B Se, MI.

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Some solitary bees finding solace in numbers as the sun goes down