Botanic Garden >> Gardening > >> Question and Answer >> About Gardening

Don't Build a Raised Bed Around a Tree Trunk

Piling soil 18″ deep against a 3-year-old red maple invites rot and termites. Instead, dig between roots, replace poor soil with quality planting mix, and plant flowers there. It's a joint project that protects the tree.

About Gardening: Sugar Maple White Spots: Harmless Lichens, Real Issue Likely Planting or Herbicide; Mysterious White Foamy Growth on Maple Trunk: Not Slime Flux; Japanese Maple Sunburn Recovery: Stress Management; Lemon Tree Flower Drop: Why Baby Fruits Fall Off; Troubleshooting a Struggling Sunset Maple: Water, Nutrients, and Herbicide Risks; Planting October Glory Maple After Cottonwood Removal; Maple Tree Planting for Town Bicentennial: Disease Risks Manageable; Maple Spindle Galls: Cosmetic Only, No Treatment Needed; Saving a Newly Planted Crimson Maple with a Collapsed Root Ball; Planting Hostas and Azaleas Under Red Oaks

Garden Articles

Replacing a Birch Tree with an Autumn Blaze Maple: Stump Considerations

That "Vine" on Your Maple Is Not a Root—Here's How to Remove It Safely

Maple Sunscald: Wrap, Fertilize, Protect from Borers

Maple Borer Infestation in Old Wound: Treatment and Risk

Saving a Split Maple Tree with Bracing

Diagnosing a Struggling Maple: Split Bark, Black Marks & Fungi

Rescuing a Heat-Stressed Laurel Oak Planted in Summer

Plants

Aphid Honeydew Causing Maple Sap Nuisance

Coral Bark Maple Losing Bark: Sunscald, Borers, or Natural Exfoliation?

Maple Bark Peeling: Decay Fungi and Borer Prevention

Planting Balled-and-Burlapped Trees: Remove the Wire and Burlap!

Bacterial Wetwood (Slime Flux) in Maple Trees

Japanese Maple Freeze Damage: Spring and Fall Fertilizing

Yellow Fungus on Japanese Maple Branches: Likely Wood Rot, Not Surface Fungus