Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Underplanting a dogwood, 1 by pennefeather

pennefeather wrote:
This picture just gives a view of the trunk and ground. Some of the branches are fairly low. We cut off a few branches last year because they were dead. It looks like the previous owner did the same. I wish that the dogwood and maple hadn't been planted so close to each other.

I just wanted to be sure that I wouldn't hurt the tree by planting underneath it. I know that the roots for the nearby maple are very close to the surface, with a number of them coming halfway out of the grass. I will need to add some topsoil, but I am going to try to keep it to a minimum just in case.