What shrubs should I plant under a young tree that will someday provide a lot of shade but is currently full sun?


Last year I planted a white oak. It’s only 10 feet tall right now, but I do want something other than grass under and around it. Right now the area is full sun, but I know at some point (15 years??) it will be shady, which obviously is a different environment. Do I just plant for now and rip the shrubs out later (trying not to damage the oak’s roots)? Only plant things with shallow roots? Are there good shrubs that do well with both sun and shade for my zone (close by I deliberately planted a dogwood that does well in both sun and the shade of oaks in particular). What is the standard practice here?I’m in zone five with a strong preference for evergreen shrubs (so, conifers basically) if anyone has any recommendations.

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