What can I plant under a pine tree?

I have a pine/fir/blue spruce tree (one of those...looks like a Christmas tree) that we cut up about 7 foot to allow for walking under it a few months ago. It drops lots of little needles...and I think will be hard to grow grass under. Can I plant some type of ground covering flower or plant under it that requires little to no sun? I live in central Illinois, zone 5. Or is it just impossible to plant because of all the needles? I could use some wood to build a square around it and sort of "raise" the ground up with fresh soil about 6 inches, but will it inevitably fail? Thanks!

What can I plant under a pine tree?
Very little will grow under a pine, partly because of the dense shade it casts. If you build up a bed around it, you could kill the tree by smothering its roots, and also by building up soil around the trunk, which makes it susceptable to insects and diseases.



You should not remove the pine needles, either, that is the tree's natural mulch. Try putting a bench and perhaps a pot or two with impatiens in the summer. there are lots of plants you can put in the area, azaleas, rhododendrons, ferns, astilbe, and the like but not under the tree. If you ever walk thru a pine woods, you will notice that there is very little, or no vegetation under the trees.
Reply:You can grow azaleas,, mahonia, choke cherry, hydrangea, hellebores. ferns, astilbe, huechera, lacecaps. repeating daylilies and hostas under them.
Reply:Sweet Woodruff is a great low growing, acid loving ground cover. It is also used as the flavoring for May wine and smells of new mown hay when dried.
Reply:Depending on how much light is getting through, where the tree is located, etc you should be able to plant flowers underneath it. We just planted regular flowers under ours... you can always go on the safe side and look for low-lighting/indirect sunlight types of flowers.
Reply:Any acid loving plant should grow there if it gets enough sun. Others have mentioned Rhododendrons and azaleas. Blueberries like acid soil, too.
Reply:pines look much better with that natural pine look

i.e. soil underneath with a few needles scattered on the ground
Reply:It is difficult to grow things under pines due to the acidity created by the fallen needles. This is a natural selection self defence feature so that the pine does not get crowded out by other plants.



Talk to a real garden centre (not Walmart or Home Depot) for recommendations.
Reply:No, don't build up around it , The tree will die. There are many plants that can be planted around it. Some are, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Pachysandra, Ivy and any other acid and shade loving plants.



How about building a tree bench around it, like a five or six sided one? You could put nice colorful weather proof cushions on it.



How about Slate? That would be easy to sweep or blow the needles away.



You could save the needles to make a Manger at Christmas time, even put the Manger by the tree.

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