One constant in gardening is change—plants grow, struggle, thrive, or decline depending on soil, weather, pests, and time. Some plants grow and expand; some struggle to hang on in poor soil or adverse weather.

Some die in any given year – victim of bugs, disease, hungry deer, or plain old age. And most sudden of all is when a big tree comes crashing down in a storm, instantly changing sunlight and soil conditions under its shaded canopy.

Successful gardeners learn not to fight this cycle but to adapt. Here are some strategies from veteran gardeners.

Pruning trees and shrubs lightly every year or two to control size, rather than waiting until a plant has outgrown the space. Lya_Cattel / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Prune Overgrown Trees and Shrubs

Growing, spreading, and encroaching on other plants are the primary ways that plants change. There are ultimately "winners and losers" in nature as the plants compete with one another. Some people find that "natural" appearance to be lovely in its own unique way. However, more organized and well-maintained appearances are typical in neighborhood settings.

Use pruners, loppers, hedge clippers, and saws to keep plants from becoming so large that they choke out other plants, block windows, or look out of control.

• Prune trees and shrubs lightly every year or two for size control
• Don't waiting until a plant has badly outgrown the space to trim it back size.
• Take special care with overgrown evergreens as severe cutback may be enough to kill a plant – or at least deform its look or set back recovery for years.

A large growing tree or shrub can remain in the intended area for years, or even decades with careful and well-timed trimming.

Divide Crowded Perennials & Grasses

In the case of ornamental grasses and perennial flowers growing beyond where you want, most can be dug and divided into smaller clumps. Some of the divisions can be replanted at comfortable spacing, used to expand a planting into a new area, or given away.

Of course, the best solution is to stick with plants in the first place that are going to stay within the space you have.

Adapt to Growing Shade & Roots

One of the trickiest dilemmas is when tree canopies spread enough that plants that used to be in full sun are now in shade. That can reduce and eventually shut down bloom in sun-loving species. Plus, the increased water demands of growing tree roots can lead to dry-shade conditions capable of killing some plants.

Lawns often go downhill from this double-whammy of increasing shade and tree-root competition.

While irrigation and repeated reseeding/sodding can milk a few more years out of a lawn under a shade tree, better options are replacing the lawn with groundcovers that tolerate dry shade (white wood aster, hellebores, and barrenwort, for example) or simply covering the ground with mulch.

Ditto with sun-preferring plants that are going downhill. When they look bad enough, it’s time to replace them with species more tolerant of the new conditions, such as boxwoods, sweetbox, viburnum, and fothergilla.

When a big tree comes down suddenly, the plants underneath face a drastic change in conditions. Photo by George Weigel

Triage for Tree Loss

While growing plants give gardeners more time to act, the sudden loss of a big tree causes immediate impact to the survivors underneath.

For one thing, the fall itself (whether from a blow-down or a planned cut-down) can crush plants underneath or uproot them. Smashed shrubs may be unsalvageable, but perennials and groundcovers usually can be saved if they’re tamped back into the ground before exposed roots dry.

Ferns suddenly thrust into full sun will usually react by turning brown and wilting. Photo by George Weigel

Hosta plant with yellowing and wilting leaves shows signs of sun damage and dehydration. Nina Calykh /iStock / GettyImagesPlus

Adapting to More Sun

A bigger long-term concern is the sudden change in light. If you’ve planted shade-preferrers under the lost tree and they’re suddenly blasted by full sun, they may brown around the leaf tips and edges, bleach out altogether, or possibly die from the shock.

While the immediate aftermath of a fallen tree might look bad, some plants will recover and adapt to the new, brighter light. Species that are adaptable to sun or shade may fare fine, given a season to regroup.

• Keep the beds damp to aid recovery and see how they do.
• Add mulch to help mitigate a sudden rise in soil temperature if you don’t already have two or three inches of it.
• Sun levels can be dulled by erecting netting or shade cloth over the underplantings (or covering them with floating row covers) until the plants have a chance to adapt.
• Hold off fertilizing if the tree loss happens in summer. It’s better to add fertilizer (if needed) at the beginning of the growing season than when plants are under heat stress.
• Another option is to move the suddenly sun-flooded shade-lovers to other beds that are still in the shade. If you don’t have such space, maybe a neighbor would be able to give them a shady new home.

In any event, don’t hit the panic button right away and dig out everything for dead. The good news is that most plants are more resilient than people think.

Practical Gardening Strategies

• Accept that gardens evolve. No design is ever “finished.”
• Use ongoing maintenance—pruning, dividing, mulching—to stay ahead of problems.
• Match plants to conditions, rather than forcing conditions to fit plants.
• Be patient after sudden changes. Many plants recover if given time.