I took this picture yesterday morning. You can see what look to be at least three of the eleven January-planted runners that have survived the winter in 6b and germinated in deep (I mean deep) shade underneath our Nanking cherry. The furthest along emerged near the beginning of May. The others came later. I don’t know when exactly as we were traveling. The top one I noticed two days ago.
(The wood to the right of the top runner is one of three unhappy exotic rhododendrons that the previous property owner planted. The two surviving(?) are not any happier now that they’ve been engulfed by a giant bush cherry
. We decided not to clone or move them but would consider growing one of the native American rhododendrons elsewhere.
The irony of the introduction of a more aggressive non-native species providing an opportunity to make our landscape more native is not lost on me. We likely would have made different decisions if we could go back in time five years. As a mixed blessing, the bush has never borne fruit.)
The runners are all planted to the right hand side of the Nanking as pictured below, close enough to the shrub itself that I thought they would get some protection and maybe some lessons in cold hardiness.
I haven’t measured the Nanking but would guess it’s close to ten feet tall and wider still.
What these tough little runners have to do now is slowly make their way from the understory to the canopy. Once they make it there they should have it made in the shade 
Come on runners!! You can do it!