Question
Hi Jonathan,

I have a triangular shaped flower garden about 15 feet off the southeast corner of my ranch house. The two long sides of the triangle are about 20 feet long while the short side is about 10 feet in length. There are short lilacs, peony bushes, spirea, tiger lilies, jack o lanterns, lambs ear, and a few other flowers in this garden.

I need to plant a deciduous tree in this triangular flower garden to shade my house from the hot morning and early afternoon summer sun. My air conditioning unit would also be shaded from the hot morning sun. I am leaning toward planting an autumn blaze maple tree here because of its faster growth rate coupled with strength and its fall color.

Now I have two questions about this tree and the flower garden.

First, there is a plastic 3 inch pipeline that runs from my house to the public sewer. This line runs along the part of the long edge of this flower garden that is closest to the house. This means I would be planting the tree within about 3 or 4 of my three inch wide sewerage drain pipe. My concern is roots from the tree growing into the pipe. I fear that any small opening in the pipe may attract tiny roots from the tree which would seek out the water. What can I do to stop the roots from growing into this sewerage plastic pipe?

Second, how well will the flower plants I listed above that are in my flower garden grow under the shade of this maple tree as it matures? I plan on buying a tree of 4 inch caliper about 20 feet high.

Thank you for considering my two questions.

Sincerely,

Mike

Answer
Hi Mike

No, unfortunately there is no real way of protecting pipes from tree roots without surrounding the root ball with plastic but this limits growth and is not practical. However, the very fact that its a plastic pipe will mean that it is basically inpenetrable and should be fine.

Regarding the plants in the shade of the tree, they should be fine as the caliper is not greedy, doesn't produce herbicide resin in its leaves as conifers or walnuts do. It should be fine-

Thanks for any points on this answer in advance.

Good luck!

Jonathan