I tried this with common sunflowers and they all got eaten by slugs. I planted mugwort but it didn’t grow as tall as I hoped. Considering trellises with wild rose or redbud but I’m not sure how fast these grow back.
I have 4 maples about 50 years old. They aren’t native, they are silver maples but I can’t see replacing them when they help shade our yard and birds and bees seem to like them. Their canopies let in filtered light in the summer and partial sun in the winter. I tried planting oaks and California buckeye. One buckeye is struggling, one got eaten (I think), and another got mowed over. Two oaks died, (I had planted them near the edge of the maple canopy to replace the maples with oaks eventually) I planted a third oak and it looks meh.
I saw ferns suggested, maybe I could try maiden hair fern?
I also planted Coyote mint, sticky monkey flower, and California fuchsia and they seem a bit meh too, especially the fuchsia, the other 2 might pull through.
Edit: I suspected the maple’s dense canopy and perhaps acidic leaf litter and dense root structure were to blame for my struggling plants but I also have moles and gophers and deer that might be equally problems, IDK. Praying for gopher snakes to come feast in my yard.
Edit 2: Our water is flat rate so if we need to water the plants in the summer we can.