John, I have to say that I am a bit concerned with that much water being that close. The Acer saccharum rootstock will not like 'wet feet' at all. My concern is that the water does not drain away just under the surface. So while the flow may never make it to the root ball, it may very well saturate the ground 3-4 inches down and remains that way for days longer. That would not be a good circumstance for a Sugar Maple, and one that is just planted with reduced root mass it could be much worse. Now everything depends on how ell it drains. I have clay, and it would be VERY bad. But your soil may drain much better and not be a problem. It just depends on the soil. The fact that you have a Eastern Red Cedar nearby being hit by the same flow, supports that the soil will drain quickly, but only you can answer that for sure. Couple of things you can do is raise the rootball 5-6 inches, but that would require replanting. Also you could go out to the lowest point of the swale (the low spot in the channel) and dig a small trench say 3-4 inches wide and 6-10 inches deep. Ideal being is you provide a lower concentrated channel so that the excess water can drain away more quickly after the rain stops. Kinda like a 'French Drain' but with no cover over the top. A narrow channel such as that is easily ignored and would help drain the excess away more quickly. JMHO. BTW, neglected to say the holes on the one tree look like what I got on our Fall Fiesta after last winter. Small area of bark damage probable from sun crack/scald. Should heal up quick and not cause problems. Arktrees

Hi,I usually hang out in the brugmansia forum,but lurk here occasionally. I believe that what happened to your plant is that while it was still tightly rolled up in the p-stem,or just as it emerged,before it un-furelled,an insect,probably a beetle or a grasshopper among others,bit one hole in the leaf that went through a few layers of rolled up leaf.As the leaf unrolled the hole spread out,and it looks like a bunch of different bites,but it is all from the same bite. Sort of as if you rolled a piece of paper tightly,then took something and cut a small hole in it,then unrolled it,you would see a bunch of holes,all in a row,that looked like something ate it,but it was just 1 hole at first.Hope that makes some sort of sense to you,I know it sounds odd,but,I'll bet that's what happened. Dan

That trunk looks pretty bad to me. Definitely not normal and also serious. I would start over with a new tree planted at the correct depth. The shoot may be AB if the tree was rooted from a cutting, but I think it would have to be replanted higher if you want it to survive.

If they are perfect circles, those are from leaf cutter bees. And if you are ever quick enough to spot them doing it, you will be amazed at the precision and speed of their operations. They will quit when they have padded their nests. Just have patience--I don't remember them being a problem for longer than a week or two at most. Kate