I just saw this again, and finally got time to wrap my head around it.  

Not sure I have a good answer because I'm not sure what you're after.

I'm going to assume the following:

The berry bushes grow faster than the trees, and this is concerning you.  You don't want them choking out the trees....is this right?

What I DON'T know is whether you want those berries to eventually be beneath the trees.

If you want them always kept separate, you've got a potential ongoing maintenance issue.  I don't know those particular berries, but if they're anything like blackberries or raspberries, they are aggressive spreaders.  Speaking to the berries I *do* know.... the way I would manage that is to keep at least 30' of mowable ground cover in a pathway between your desired treeline and the berries, and keep the berries in either rows or clumps, but contained by mowable grass.  I've seen this done effectively and it worked well.   As the oaks and maples mature, you can always let the berries have some more of the space.  

I would also keep my fruit trees in clumps, separated from the  berry patches.  

Just give yourself room to mow easily and regularly, and that mowing will curtail the advance of the berry spread.

None of this accounts for shade.  If those berries need full sun (assuming they do) you might need to put them square in the middle of your property so they get enough, since there are going to be many hours of potential shade most of the way across your lot when you consider where the sun rises and sets.    A 100 foot tree casts a long shadow.  Sounds like they wrap your entire back yard, and what you're cutting, you're replacing with trees that will do that again once they mature.

Okay is that any help?  Or have I answered the wrong question?

Don't top your tree.

HOWEVER, you could judiciously prune it to thin the branches on that side, so the shade is cut in half or even by two thirds.  When you prune, try to keep the "long" side of the sloped cut on top, so that less water actually falls on that cut.  I saw from your pics of the oak that you know how to make a sloping cut just outside the branch collar.  Keep doing that.  Just try to reverse the direction if you can.  If you can't, then keep to your regular technique.

Pruning in this way will allow you to preserve the natural shape of the tree and keep it basically healthy while thinning it--or even taking it mostly back on that side--without doing serious damage.

It would be better to remove the tree entirely than to top it.  Tree topping actually harms the tree.  Trees make their food in the leaves.  So a tree, when topped, sprouts "emergency" fast-growing sprouts from around the wounded area, trying to save itself.  It takes a lot of sugar to run a plant as large as a tree.  It shoots out all those weak, unfortunate branches in an effort to survive because you've removed its ability to make food.  

Beyond that, if you don't have diseases and pests of ash trees already on your property, weakening a tree will set up a beacon for those things to invade.  You don't want that.  Keep the tree healthy if you can.

I estimate that every time a tree is topped, it takes at least 1/3 of the life of the tree.  Maybe more like half, but 1/3 is an easy estimate to make and believe I'm well within realistic estimations.

Imagine cutting your thumb off at the first knuckle.  Ouch.

Yeah, don't do that.  It also makes the tree ugly.

As to the Emerald Ash Borer.

I don't disagree with others on the forum, but...in nearly all instances of pests and/or disease of a certain species, there are those that survive, and from this we find resistant populations.  I, for one, hope this will be true with EAB.

Yeah, me too.  Trying to stay positive.  My psyche doesn't do too well with losing entire species of some of our best trees.

Y'all, if I've missed anybody's questions or requests, it's not on purpose.  Bump me a reminder to look again.

True, but not too late to learn from the problems monoculture creates.  Diversification is nearly always a positive thing, and yet we seem to forget it regularly.

I would reduce the height of the mulch pile just a little.

Only because it looks "mounded."

Keep it at the level of the soil around the trees.

That will discourage rodents from living in it, and will not encourage rot.  (If the mulch is mounded around areas where it would not naturally be, rot can ensue.)

With trees that mature, this is pretty much the only issue I'd worry about.

ETA:  Are you saying you buried the roots with soil when they were not buried before?  If so, that's another issue.  Don't do that.

If you are saying you uncovered them, then recovered them at the same depth, that's fine.

In that case, I would just rake some of the mulch back to make it even with where the soil leve was before, and call it good.

I just saw this last response.  

Too late for me to be coherent but I will check back tomorrow.

So sorry it took a while to get back to this.  The thread keeps dropping down the page and my memory has been obliterated by too many distractions lately.

I would not add any heavy fill near the base of the tree, so ten feet is probably good as a minimum, and as you say, taper it.  

Those plants all sound good against the house, but the taller ones may end up flattened if you have regular heavy winds.  You could support them, of course, or use the big clumps of taller grasses to create a little wind break on the windward side.

Bump to keep from archives.  Thinking folks may have questions in the fall, when most people think again about landscaping.

If I've failed to answer anything or been stupid and missed the point, please say so.

Oh shoot!  I'm sorry.  Glad you bumped me.

First...are the moles gone?  Or are they still doing damage?  

Second, how big is your yard?--I mean how big is the area that's damaged by the moles and the equipment ruts?

If it's a large area, yes, that's what I would have to suggest, along with some overspreading of topsoil (which will require light reseeding, but overseeding after aeration is not a bad thing anyhow, usually)

But if the mole activity is not stopped ahead of time, it will be wasted effort and expense.

The reason I suggest aeration is that it sort of loosens everything without total renovation.  Then roll, then spread topsoil, then seed, then roll, etc.

No matter what, you will likely need to do the topsoil/roll combo more than once. Even if you don't aerate, you could just roll and spread/reseed, rinse and repeat.  The trouble is the roller rental.  Until you get some rain, you won't be done, because after settling, you'll need to repeat the process.

Okay is that totally confusing?

@ar-Jedi what say you from your golf course experience?

What does the tag say?

What kind of grapevine is it?

Looks like Johnsongrass.

Good stuff.  Thanks for the input!  

Turfgrass management is its own whole field.

Can I grow grass?

Yeah.

Can I grow grass like a turfgrass specialist?

No way.

I know.  

I was supposed to send you my address for a couple of rhizomes, and never did.  My bad.

Life has been...well..

insane doesn't quite get it right.  (There is pigweed higher than my head in a few of my flower beds. )

Insane on fire maybe...yeah that feels about right.

Someday, when you have determined that they work well for you and are noninvasive, you can dig me some.

Or hey...maybe I'll drive through your area and dig my own.

bump for the fall time when people think about landscaping again.

I will be back to this, if nobody else offers.

out for a personal issue but hopefully not for long. :0)

@Pavelow16478

I think you might be really happy with a selection of the newer cultivars of hydrangea for that location.

They've come a long way in the last few years, and the old fashioned "snowball bush" has been much improved.  The ones we are used to from childhood grew narrow and tall, were skinny and often bare at the bottom and poofed out and hung over at the top.   That's changed.


Some hydrangea varieties

Be sure to check the mature height of the cultivar you are considering.  And buy from a reputable nursery so you're getting what you mean to get.  At walmart or sometimes even at Lowe's, you'll end up with NOT what the tag says you're getting an awful lot of the time.

Also pay attention to the notes on the cultivars and make sure you get one that can take full sun (as that looks like it gets a whole lot of sun up against that wall).  There are now varieties that can take the heat as well as ones that do better in light shade.

A row of four or five of those along the foundation--choose a variety that tops out at about four feet or so--with something else at the corners would provide long-lasting bloom all through the summer, with the dried heads creating nice interest in autumn and early winter.    Lot of folks take a scorched earth policy in the fall, clearing anything dried, but that's a mistake from a landscaper's perspective.

The best trees and shrubs for the landscape work hard, providing attractive interest in the landscape for more than one season.  

Hydrangeas are beautiful in the warm months, but don't underestimate how nice those puffy, dried blooms can make the side of the house look after peak season.

There are a couple of interesting opportunities at the corners.

One of the dwarf varieties of evergreen that has a "droopy" quality would make a really nice contrast  to the upright stems of a deciduous shrub like hydrangea--or another upright deciduous shrub if you don't like those.

This slide show highlights some really nice images of evergreens most people don't think of

I personally like Oakleaf Hydrangea at the corners of buildings, because it's a broad, spreading bush, with pretty blooms in the summer and nice peely bark in the winter, but I find a lot of folks don't like it because it's not "a neat tight ball of a bush" and in particular in the winter, some folks have trouble seeing those stems and thinking of anything but "I need to cut that down."  That's because they think of winter interest as a gumball of evergreen foliage.  

The BEST winter landscaping includes both--the attractive bare branches of trees and shrubs mixed in with the evergreens.

So another idea would be to do a layered effect.

You could put two or three red twig dogwoods in sort of a triangle up against that wall, then choose a dwarf hydrangea or two in front/sides of those, with the evergreens at the corners.

You could also change it up.
The evergreen in the middle (as it's likely to be the most expensive of the shrubs you will purchase) then a red twig to either side of it, and come out in a semi-circle with hydrangea, then another spreading evergreen on the outside edge.

If you like any of these ideas, I can draw up a diagram for you pretty easily, taking into account size and shape of the plants you're considering.

If you were to use the semicircle, you could do stepping stones around the outer border of it from the driveway in front to the patio in back, so when you're having outdoor gatherings, folks can come around the pretty shrub bed to the back of the house.

ETA:  Even BETTER than one semicircle, you can do two overlapping since your window is in the middle.

One taller shrub  on each side of the window, then a couple of semicircles--one surrounding each shrub.   I've installed that "double half circle" against walls in some very nice home projects, and it always gets good reviews.

Answers in red in the quote.   Ask more if I've confused you.

Can you take more photos?  Maybe of the wall and the approach to the driveway?

Well, I think we need to know a little more.

Are you going strictly for utility?  Or are you after attractive design as well?

Is that the future driveway where they came in with the house?  Or will that be all yard/plantings?