Annoying Roots

As spring comes again I am annoyed again.  I went to a lot of troubles several years ago to install some flower beds to cover the ugly space beneath my maple trees.  I (or rather more so my husband) installed landscape logs and rather large rocks and filled behind them with potting soil and rich woods dirt.

Then I planted hostas, ferns, other perennials, and bulbs.  They were happy that summer, but by fall those ugly little hidden maple roots were wreaking havoc in that soft rich soil.  Even the hardiest plant had to fight for its life.  The next summer I thought I would outdo the roots by digging out the roots and putting down old plastic mulch bags and recovering them with soil and replanting the flowers.  No way.  The roots were tough enough to come back in a few months.  They are mostly in control now.  Digging holes in  the soil and sinking potted plants works somewhat.  But the roots slip through the bottom and invade the pot.  The only thing worse than these maple roots is the Bartlett pear tree we got annoyed with and cut down. We built a flower bed to cover the beheaded trunk.  For two years the departed tree destroyed our new bed with invading roots.  It is even now still trying.