It happens to all of us sooner or later. A tree grows and our previously sun perennial bed is not blooming well, and stretched. Or a tree falls and our shade plants are scorched and dying.

Someone mentioned to me a few months ago that she has finally embraced her garden conditions after trying to grow purple coneflowers in full shade for many years. She told me "There comes a time where you have to admit the truth".

In my garden I'm looking forward to this. A Norway maple and a flowering dogwood are much taller now than they were when my grandmother planted phlox, asters, goldenrod, Helianthus and hardy mums in a bed outside my kitchen window. This weekend I'm digging them up and moving them to a sunnier berm garden.

A few notes about Norway maples, or any maple for that matter. One, they have shallow roots, so whatever you plant under or near them should be drought tolerant to begin with, but must be watered until established. Dad's rule of "water when planting and then leave alone" must be relaxed under maples.

Two, they have flat leaves that when they fall in the autumn stick together and do not curl and decompose like oak leaves. So if you like to mulch with your leaves, maples must first be raked and shredded before mulching.

Back to my new shade garden. I've been dreaming all summer of what I'd put in my new bed. There are so many options and I'm not sure I've made up my mind yet.

I know I want to put in an oak-leaf hydrangea in the back. Not only does it give fragrant white-turning-to-pink flowers in the summer, but it has a great red fall-color as well as attractive exfoliating bark for winter interest. Plus it's native. How can you beat that combination! In the front of the bed, I'm still deciding.

On my short list are sedges, epimediums, coral bells, Campanulas and perennial geraniums. Geranium 'Jolly Bee' in my parents garden has been blooming steadily since June. I've also recently fallen in love with Begonia grandis, a fall-blooming hardy begonia that gets 2-3 feet tall with pink flowers.

But I think that is the point. Fall in love with something new that is suited to the garden you have today. Know your soil moisture conditions and what time of day you have sun. Look at public gardens or friends backyards to find out what you like. Most of all, experiment. And if your find doesn't thrive, move it somewhere else, or plant a tree and wait.