Anyone good at gardening?

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I have a sugar maple in my front yard that's about 100 years old. Older than my house, strangely. I have barely any grass on the side of my yard that the maple is in. The part of the yard that's on the other side of my concrete walk from my door to my front gate is completely fine-green grass, sunny, plants growing.

The only things that will grow on the maple side are a couple patches of grass, a young siberian elm hedge I planted a few months ago, ivy, and...I think they're called cinnamon ferns? I'm trying out hostas, but it's too early to know if they're making it. I tried something called ajuga, but it died. Some other kind of shade plant, but it died too.

This is maybe a 25'x25' area of rocky dry soil with red Virginia clay underneath. Should I try doing grass seed again and water it 2-3 times a day, put more of these few plants that do grow or give up and do mulch? Like what do other people do? It looks terrible and my 2 and 4 legged animals have been rolling in it and getting muddy.

Could you, perhaps. post a photo of the area? In addition, is it safe to assume that it freezes there, in the winter?

Hostas are an excellent choice. They come such a wide range of leaf color that you can mass them and make a stunning effect, and the fact that they bloom is a definite plus.

Yeah, you could broadcast the seed----or, at considerably more expense (though, it would be worth it), sod----BUT, it would take great measure, to maintain it; otherwise, it would just die, again. If you go the seed route, I'm thinking it would be better to wait 'til next Spring, as it might be too close to "snow-time", this year----I'd ask at a nursery.

Also, it seems to me, that I've heard-of grass that, specifically, grows in the shade.....

-I am more accustomed to an inclement gardening climate, Campin cat is right there are drought and shade resistant grasses like Floratam St. Augustine,(Grasses for low-maintenance drought-resistant lawns) which I think you could sow in early autumn or spring.(when to plant grass seed in your state)

-Astroturf/Synthetic lawn is an excellent surface for children, is maintenance free (you can give it a sweep with a deck brush every so often) and looks close enough in appearance to real grass.

-Cover the area with Terram/specifically a weed guard permeable material, create a low border/boundary and place stone chips or another filler on top of the weed guard, making specific openings for flowerbeds with shade loving plants like Hostas and drought tolerant ferns, if you wanted a landscaped look.

Thanks all for these tips! You have all be very helpful!

Have you considered Alchemilla? A couple of these plants just 'appeared' in my front garden a few years ago, and I can confirm they are very hardy and need no tending. They don't have a very spectacular appearance, but they are good for covering bare soil.

http://www.perennials.com/plants/alchemilla-mollis.html

You could try planting a few clumps of sweet woodruff, which is a hardy ground cover used in shady places. It creeps along the ground forming a sort of carpet in no time, and produces masses of pretty white flowers and a beautiful scent rather like honeysuckle. It can become quite invasive, but its roots are very shallow so you can easily pull it up in clumps. Also it doesn't need much soil, so it might suit the rather dry, bare patch you have, and will also grow along the edge of paved/shingle paths etc. It won't choke other plants, but just grows round them.

Re: picture - It looks like you've got several things, going-on, there.....

The thing toward the bottom (center), with small leaves, could be an ivy or a fern. The bluish-looking thing, dead-center, looks like a fern.

There's a specific Ivy that makes a good ground-cover----but, they WILL choke-out other plants.