Interesting that you resurrected this thread now. I did this work last week. I removed a lot of the "soil", and replaced it with a topsoil/compost/peat moss mix. I removed some roots but left the main roots intact - I will plant the Hosta in positions to avoid the hosta roots right on top of a Fir root. I added Hydrogel to up the soil's ability to supply both Fir and Hosta with water and nutrients. I have succeeded with this strategy under "Bertha" the enormous Norway Maple in the past.

You name your trees, too? We have Jane the Magnolia (who's a Jane Magnolia), Suzette the Crepe Myrtle (as in Crepe Suzette), and Darcy the Dogwood (a Kousa dogwood).

The rest are, as yet, unnamed...

"Bertha" is an enormous Norway Maple, around 65' - 75' tall and with a canopy around 80'. She is estimated at 125 years old. I had an arborist working on her a bunch of years ago. I found him on the lawn just staring at her, and was scared that he saw something that was going to be the end of her. "What's up?", I asked. He said "If there were a picture in the dictionary of 'Maple Tree', it would be this one".

andy10917 wrote: "What's up?", I asked. He said "If there were a picture in the dictionary of 'Maple Tree', it would be this one".

Sounds like quite the tree. Any photos?

bernstem wrote:

andy10917 wrote: "What's up?", I asked. He said "If there were a picture in the dictionary of 'Maple Tree', it would be this one".

Sounds like quite the tree. Any photos?

Check the dictionary.