Much though I would like to say to plant things around them, whether in pots or not, I think Resin is right - if people backed into the trees, then they will back into anything in the same place, especially if lower to the ground. I would either hire the stump-grinder, or else put wood chips around the area and expand your parking surfaces. With people having trouble reversing and turning, it sounds like you NEED more room in that spot. If the rest of your drive is gravel or paved, then you might want to do the stump grinding first, and make it match. But if the disparity in surfacing doesn't bother you or your spouse/family, then it seems to me to be a good idea to put down a thick layer of wood-chips, and wait for them to break down and rot, along with the stumps - over the next few years. Once the stumps are mostly gone, you can take another look at the situation and decide what you now/then want to do. If you want SOMETHING there, putting a couple of large pots along the far perimeter, away from wayward cars, might be helpful in defining the area. Depending on conditions of light and shade - AND the distance from a convenient source of water - planting smallish shrubs (Knockout Roses?) or grasses might be better than annuals, which do take quite a bit of water when growing in pots. And if it IS pretty sunny, using solar path lights around the edges might be nice too.

Did you grind the roots of the pine tree and remove all the wood chips? That needs to be done. Then refill the hole leaving a mound over the top of the hole. The mound should be at least 10% by volume more soil than fills the hole. In three years that mound will settle down to the level of the surrounding surface. If you don't do that, you'll have a hole right there. If you don't remove the wood chips from the hole first, those will try to decompose under the surface of the soil. That process requires a lot of nitrogen which the microbes will take from the soil leaving nothing for the plants. You'll have a yellow spot there for years and years no matter how much fertilizer you use. It's best to always remove wood from the soil. Just growing grass will break up the soil below the surface. Deep and infrequent watering will play a big role in this. It wouldn't hurt to apply 3 ounces of shampoo per 1,000 square feet. That seems to soften the soil for everyone who tries it. Use any clear shampoo you can see through. Chances are this will solve your problem without new topsoil. Adding topsoil usually has unintended consequences. DO NOT DIG DOWN unless you are going back to remove the wood chips left in the hole. Oh and wood chips left on the surface are fine. It's the wood under the surface that's the problem.

dschall.....We did reseed last Spring and that was a failure, so we just spread a new different kind of seed in the Fall. I don't know the name of it but it was a suggestion from a neighbor. Hoping for the best! lazy_gardens....yes, the first Spring/Summer after the tree was cut down I just assumed all this mess was from the sun because that tree provided a lot of shade before. But I do have another area of the same lawn which is definitely drier and the grass dies in mid-summer every year, then starts up as it gets cooler. This area where the tree was seems different. It certainly could be a combination of things. I will probably post again in Spring when I expect to see some new growth from the Fall seeding. Crossing my fingers. A neighbor suggested lime. My husband did add lime in the Fall as well. What do you all think of that? I really appreciate all the input!!! Thanks to all! :)

I have 2 not just stumps but trunks of oak trees in my yard that i keep telling to rot. One tree was dying and my neices hubby said he'd cut it down if he could have it for fire wood...well he got it down, cut all the limbs for fire wood but left the trunk cause his saw wasn't big enough. If i had known he was gonna leave the trunk in the i might found someone else that would have took it all but no one wants just the trunk...and i asked high and low...wood carvers and wood turners but no one wanted it so it is smack in the middle of my back yard rotting...it is to a point i can take a shovel and hit it with the point and i can break some off now and again. The other oak died in back behind the garage and a storm knocked it over...just missing the roof.