We purchased a house about a year and a half ago. The front yard was an eyesore, half faded pink rocks, and the other half, a very poor lawn that was mostly weeds. Its only redeeming feature was a nice magnolia tree in the center of the lawn side.We decided to remove the rocks and lawn and create a drought resistant garden. Knowing nothing about magnolia trees, we rented a bobcat and a dumpster and got to work.
The bobcat was useless on the entire side with the tree, as the root system is a tangled mess on the entire surface, which was revealed after we scraped the grass off—all we could do was scrape as the roots made digging impossible. They encompass everything, from sidewalk, to driveway, to porch. Nothing can be planted there.
In addition, we pruned the tree (ourselves) about 6 months ago due to the outer perimeters being dead from drought damage. I was concerned about the stress we caused, but it does have some new growth and a few flower buds.
Now we’ve damaged some of the root system with the bobcat, and will have to damage them further if we want to plant anything else.
I don’t know if it will survive long term, or if anything else will survive around it.
The side of the yard it is in is not large—about 20 x 25 feet.
It makes me sad to think about it, but are we better off removing it now? If it survives the trauma we are causing, can it be incorporated into our landscape plans?
We are at a loss on how to proceed.
