Would pots around the base hurt my tree?

I can't find any info anywhere on this, so I figured I'd ask here and see if any of you tree experts know the answer.

I have a mulberry tree in my front yard that I have been struggling to make attractive. I cannot get anything to really grow at the base of the tree - the roots are too dense, etc. So I thought, since we have an Italian-ish style house, what if I put all my herb pots around the tree?

My question is, would having large pots around the base of the tree hurt it? Here is a picture of the tree, and a picture of the pots that I want to put around it. The largest pot is about two feet in diameter, I think.

What do you think? Also, do you think it would look good, or just look funny?

I'm not a tree expert but I do have mulberries and they are pretty tough. I would think they could handle the pots, especially if you put a layer of pine straw mulch down first.

Another thing you could try to make it more attractive is to underplant it with some sort of evergreen plant, or even a vine that is not too aggressive (like Clematis) that can be cut back yearly. Clematis roots like the shade but the vines and flowers will climb the branches and bloom. Don't use wisteria or honeysuckle or anything like that; it will compete with the tree.

I would think the tree will survive, but the herbs won't like being in its shade - most herbs need full sun. Try pots with shade-tolerant plants instead.

Resin

I'm with Resin, not enough sun for the herbs under a tree. As far as how it will look, pots are easy to move so why don't you try putting them under there and decide whether you like the look or not. Then if you do, go get yourself some pots of more shade tolerant plants.

Actually, the sun comes directly in under the branches all afternoon, so it's filtered sun in the morning and almost direct sun all afternoon, which here in the Houston area is significant sun. Plus, my tree seems to have some leafing issues - it loses them early in the season and gets them late in the season, so there's quite a long time when gives very little shade at all.

Thanks for the ideas and opinions! I'll try setting them around it and see how it looks.

Another thing I have done is get brightly colored decorative pots, such that the pots are the main attraction, then put in seasonal items (pampas plumes, holly branches) or even (gasp) artificial flowers.

That tree will get huge! How about building a bench around it & placing cluster of just a few smaller pots with trailing plants on the bench. Then mulch underfoot. I think the proportion of your pots is too big for the current size of the trunk.

Leave some room between the pots and the tree trunk for air circulation. You could reduce the impact of having something that close to the trunk by raising the pots off the ground up on bricks placed on their sides, wood blocks or those little ornamental feet. You will probably have to remove some grass and mulch to keep the grass from growing under the pots. Mulberries produce very deep shade and nothing will be able to grow beneath it. I don't know how successful you would be trying to keep it thinned out.

The picture actually makes it look smaller than it is - I think it is already mostly fully grown. We've been here two years and it hasn't grown that we can tell during that time. The trunk is currently 33" around.

The shade it produces is pretty sparse - as I said, it has some leafing issues (I'm having someone come out to look at it and see what's going on). I would love to take out the grass in a wider circle around it.

The bench idea sounds nice, I might look into that. It's true that the pots might be too big, but I don't think they are as big in proportion to the tree as it seems from the pic. When I try placing them around it, I'll post a pic so y'all can see.