My husband has spent the last 3 weekends building a retaining wall type of flower bed on our sloping lot and backfilled with clean topfill.

We have a very large crêpe myrtle approximately 20 years old that was at the end of the flowerbed which now has approximately 6 -8 inches more dirt around its base.

Our neighbor who has something to say about everybody's yard project came by and made a wisecrack about our tree being dead within a year.

I would hate for this old fart to be right, but is he? Will the extra dirt that we added to the raised bed harm our lovely tree?

Anyone have a suggestion?

Bringing this back to the top in the morning to see if morning folks know!

I'm not sure about the crêpe myrtle but if it were roses they would die for sure, so the old man may be right. I would try to remove some of the dirt just around the trunk.

Many plants do not like soil too far above the crown of the plant, where the roots start to flare out in the soil. I do not know about crêpe myrtles in particular. If you pull soil back and allow a basin around the plant you may be okay. However, you do not want water to stand for extended periods in contact with the trunk/stem either.