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Hi, I have a group of mature limbed-up hemlocks underwhich I would like to plant a woodland garden. I'm in the process of pulling out the terribly invasive ivy that was used by some previous owner of the property as a groundcover. I can't wait to get planting this spring, but am worried about disturbing the roots of these trees. I've also read that building up the soil can be a problem, too. Any suggestions?
I don't know about hemlocks specifically, but trees in general don't like to have additional soil piled up over their roots so I would definitely recommend not changing the level of the soil. As far as planting, if you buy small plants in flats or maybe 4" pots you should be able to dig small holes to plant them without doing too much damage to the roots, but I wouldn't recommend trying to plant anything that's a larger size than that.
Thanks for the suggestion! Since the lowest branches on the hemlocks are pretty high, about 20 feet or so, I wonder if it is going to look odd to have a high canopy and then only small plants below. Ideally, I would have liked to have planted some understory small trees and shrubs, but it sounds like it might not be advisable.
If you're willing to give them some time to grow, you can find small tree/shrubs. Some nurseries in my area carry babies in 4" pots, and many of the mail order places will also sell you smaller plants (Forest Farm's tubes for example are pretty small and should be able to be planted there without causing too much damage to existing roots) I just don't think it's a good idea to go buy something in a big huge container and then try to dig a big enough hole to plant it, that could damage your hemlock roots.
