Do you know what kind of a Japanese Maple it is? Any Pics? How large is it now?

Different Japanese maples can get different sizes. Although most Japanese Maples won't get very large at all. I could be wrong, but I don't think these have very large dangerous root systems like other Maples. The roots may just go under the driveway/patio.

This is not Japanese maple. I am talking about a red maple that grows 40-60 ft tall or so depending on the variety.

Acer rubrum red maple then.

Three feet to pavement seems rather close. Then again how long does a driveway actually last.

Previous owners of my place absolutely tortured this Fraxinus americana (did I spell that right?) - white ash. Planted maybe three feet off part of the driveway. Then built a deck AROUND the poor thing. When I moved in the tree's trunk was nearly the three feet thick and growing into the deck lol. Ug.

If you like the tree where it is I bet you can get away with it for twenty or thirty years. When it comes tine to replace your driveway it will be hard on the tree. Better do paving work i the fall.

Think hard about how much you like it. Think about planting a replacement nearby if you have a spot you wish the tree was. Then when the replacement is big enough to do the job cut this one down.

I should have capitalized Red Maple. Sorry. Anyway, the driveway is already 30 years old and not perfectly flat. I hate the tree in what is supposed to be a flower/shrub border anyway. I don't know what the previous owners were thinking. I feel bad murdering a perfectly healthy tree but you have given me a bit more of a push. Thanks for the advice.

I feel bad murdering a perfectly healthy tree but you have given me a bit more of a push.

===>>>> why???

be the master of your domain ...

i would feel guilty.. if i were doing it to pave paradise.. and put in a parking lot ...

but i would not feel such.. removing one misplaced tree.. and replacing it with a variety of garden plants ...

mother earth net loss ZERO.. if not on the PLUS side ...

guilt should not be in your equation at all

ken

Soon enough your tree will not fit there anymore. A typical height for a fully developed red maple is twice that 40-60 ft. range. Here, well outside its native distribution area and preferred climate conditions red maple dimensions were being recorded by the 1980s that included heights of as much as 92', trunks more than 10' around, and average crown spreads up to 79'.

I am convinced it needs to come out after reading these posts. I was not there in the beginning, but the neighbors tell me the viburnums were put there with the building of the house 30 years ago and this tree was planted south of the viburnums 10 years ago. It is shading and crowding the viburnums to where they are 15' sticks sticking up and lopping over with leaves way on the ends only. I think the viburnums are a sorry lot as well. Neighbors tell me they were never ever pruned or shaped. Then there are flowers that struggle for light and soil. And oh the suckering I am constantly battling. The house and patio are all south of this menagerie so no shade is received from any of it. The only function these all serve is to provide division and screening between our properties where neighbor's driveway butts up next to this border bed.