Homeowner met with warnings over concerning landscaping plan: 'Bad idea all around'

After moving into a house with a large Canadian maple tree, one homeowner quickly realized that something wasn't quite right with their tree's roots. They consulted with an arborist before going to another popular source for landscaping advice: the Reddit community r/landscaping.

The tree's main issue, as shown in the post, was the girdled roots at the base of the tree. These twisting, aboveground roots generally develop when a tree has been planted in overly compacted soil. It can also happen when homeowners pile an excessive amount of mulch — known as a "mulch volcano" — at the base of the tree, trapping moisture and damaging the roots at the tree's base. 

"We have not covered the roots with anything," the homeowner explained in their post. "All the growth was from prior owners."

Nevertheless, one commenter pointed out the truth: "This tree is getting strangled."

But in hopes of improving their yard's aesthetics, the original poster wanted to know whether building a back wall and filling it in with soil for hostas was a viable option.

"My fear is that in backfilling the wall with top soil, I will just be encouraging the roots to keep growing above ground, making this mess worse," they said. "Is there another idea you have that would help clean up the aesthetics of this?!?"

As one person quickly pointed out, "A wall promotes water retention. This may stress the tree and promote fungal issues."

Instead, people suggested, the OP should leave the tree alone — definitely avoiding soil or mulch volcanoes — or embrace non-disruptive aesthetic developments.

"What about building a wide wrap around bench," one person suggested. "No harm to the tree, add some plants on the bench to draw eye away from the roots."

But even this wasn't enough of a fix, one person said. Once the roots are that girdled, it's only a matter of time before they completely strangle and kill the tree, in which case it becomes a major hazard to the OP and their home's inhabitants.

What's the hardest thing about taking care of your yard? Mowing the lawn 🏡 Controlling weeds 🌿 Keeping pests at bay 🐿️ I don't have a yard 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"Trees should never be planted next to a home," the commenter wrote. "Bad idea all around."

Fortunately for the OP, if they do remove the tree, they'll have plenty of room left for a native plant lawn. And considering native plants hardly need any maintenance or watering, they'd be able to have a thriving pollinator haven with very low effort in a matter of weeks.

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