peartrees

[gino]

I have two mature pear trees, like them ,don't mind the bees, but thay kill the grass. What will grow in the shade under these trees?

[pruninggal]

Did you know that most of a tree's roots usually live in the top 1-12 inches of soil? While you say that nothing is growing under the tree, trying to seed grass or digging through these roots to install plants will disturb the tree more than is usually healthy. Plus, changing the water patterns around an established trees' roots will also negatively affect a trees health. If you truely enjoy the trees and they are valuable to your landscape, give them some generous tree rings of mulch (2-4" thick) and focus on another area. The mulch will keep the roots cool, improve the area for the roots and give the tree in general a better chance at being healthy for it's life.

Good luck,
Pruninggal

[Newt]

Hi Gino,

Some great advice from Pruninggal. Here's some sites that explain tree root growth and mulching.
http://www.mortonarb.org/research/treeroots.html
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/WO017
http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/mulching.asp

With that said, you can plant under your tree, but you will need to be careful and use plant material that can tolerate dry shade. Here's a site where you can search for those conditions based on your hardiness zone and several other requirements.
http://bestplants.chicago-botanic.org/query_simple.htm

Here's some other helpful sites. You will need to check the hardiness zones on these. This first site has a few plants that I don't recommend because they are very invasive. I never recommend ivy. If you aren't sure you can either ask here or search for more info at www.google.com
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/plants.htm
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/grdcover.php

Some of my favorites are Epimedium, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, Heuchera (come with many different leaf colors), Tiarella, Arum italicum, Campanula latifolia, hardy geraniums (a link to follow) & Corydalis lutea to name a few. Under vines I DO NOT recommend Lonicera japonica - Japanese or Hall's honeysuckle. It's an invasive pest.

Hardy geranium info.
http://geraniaceae.com/geraniums/

I suspect you are in zone 5, but if you aren't sure of your hardiness zone, here's a zip code zone finder.
http://www.garden.org/zipzone/

Newt