Backyard area (the fence currently doesn’t have the tarp up.)
Landscaping Under Trees
My backyard has a strip of deciduous trees and skip laurel bushes that back up to a chain-link fence - the fence is not owned by me. (A line of skip laurels are in front of the trees.) Behind the fence is a school playground. My husband and I kept the trees and planted the bushes because they give us some privacy. But the problem is that I don’t know how to landscape underneath the trees. Should I put mulch there? Maybe some hostas? The back of our backyard is 100 linear feet. I tried ferns before but they didn’t last. Right now, all there is are leaves (and occasionally, poison ivy) and one or two hostas underneath the trees and bushes.
My husband and I had a front yard with 8 trees on the north side of the house, in other words, devoid of much sun. Over a period of five years we planted hostas, pachysandra, vinca vine and myrtle, arranging the plants in an attractive fashion. You could probably do the same in a shorter period of time. Our front yard came to resemble a shady park, no lawn and no mowing. When I sold the house, the front yard was a major attraction to the buyer. Good luck with your challenge.