Ideas for a low water spot

[Placestogo]

Under our sycamore tree, there is area delimited by rocks. Not sure what theprevious owner had there but the past two years whatever i hae tried planting died. I think the sycamore “drinks” all the water in this area… it gets the morning sun.
what could i possibly plant there (and wont have to water).
anything up to 1m, pollinatot friendly a plus but not necessarily
thanks a lot

Adding pictures! The plant circled in blue. I will keep, cant remember the name but it worked last year. I suppose i could find out what it is and plant some more next to it!
also the area just behind… full of sycamore seedlings… what could i do with that?? I tried a wildflower mix last year and it didnt work

Plant circled is, I'm fairly sure, acanthus. Not sure of any other suggestions but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will hop onto thread soon!
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/acanthus

This might not suit what you have in mind, OP, but I have a very dry front garden (can't get the hose round!) and I've turned it into a gravel garden and planted it up with sedums and sempervivums, dotted around a few large rocks and some tree trunk offcuts and now after three years it's looking very pretty! Very low care, needs no watering or attention and just does its thing.

I live the idea of the sempervivum around the possibly acanthus! Thanks
i might also try a sedum behind that. Or maybe a yarrow??

I thought acanthus too. If it is you won't have to plant more - it will colonise the area very quickly, they are brutes! They are good in dry shade where not much else will grow.

I managed to kill a yarrow (I also managed to kill mint, so I might start hiring myself out to deal with bamboo), but you can get some gorgeous ones, why not give it a go! If it doesn't work or you don't like it, you can always change it around.

Are they? Thats great then. It is only one year old so lets see…

GQT had a similar question (dry shade) in the 13.03.26 programme. Their suggestions were:

Anne Swithinbank –
Geranium phaeum, dusky cranesbill
Polystichum setiferum, soft shield fern
Digitalis lutea, straw foxglove
Lamium orvala, balm-leaved red deadnettle

Chris Beardshaw –
Epimedium
Arum italicum, Italian arum
Arum maculatum, lords-and-ladies
Cyclamen hederifolium, ivy-leaved cyclamen