Moved my shade garden

We cut down two HUMONGOUS pine trees this past March. I miss them terribly! They shaded my entire front yard and the front of my house and gave me privacy. Unfortunately, we had no choice.

We ground the stumps and had two tons of topsoil brought in. We leveled it and planted 50 lbs of grass seed. In less than two weeks, we had the healthiest, greenest patch of weeds you've ever seen! We had to kill it all off and start over, so my husband worked on that and I moved all my shade plants over about 40 feet under my maple. I hate shallow roots!! My garden is a little sparse, but my plant budget has been exhausted.

Before:

Another before pic

After

another view

This is where it transitions to sun. I moved a bunch of lilies over on this side and added the mums for some instant color.

The big gap between the two gardens has stepping stones and a little rock garden. It's been a natural path for my kids and all the neighbor kids, so I figured "why fight it?".

Looks great! What a lot of work to plant under a mature maple.
It's a nightmare. Be sure to keep your new transplants watered extra well.
It will be hard to compete against that thirsty maple!

I wasn't as energetic as you when one of our shade trees came down 3-4 years ago.
The hostas underneath the tree are still there today.
By this time of year, they're looking a little toasty.
But they have otherwise thrived in full blazing sun - they look great in spring.
Maybe your transformation will inspire me to move mine.
One of these days.

I really did worry about planting under the maple, but I have LOTs of free water from my rain barrel.. :)