Beginner Gardening: burying roots, 2 by jillep

jillep wrote:
I have an older flowering (pear?) tree growing on a hill. It fell over in 2001, grew back from the stump and now has a diameter of about 8". The stump has been covered with ivy until recently. Now that it is uncovered it is UGLY! I have built a retaining wall around the tree, mainly to disguise it, but I'd like to put some plants in front of it. I've heard that putting soil on tree roots which were exposed can cause them to rot and kill the tree. How much do I dare put on them? To really cover the ugly part I'd need close to a full foot of soil. Is it better to put the soil on gradually an inch a month or so?