I have a maple tree in my front yard. It's 10 years old. Every year, all spring/summer I weed and weed the grass, etc that come up around the base of the tree. I put some coreopsis that's coming up this year and spreading a bit. However, it hasn't occupied the entire base.

Since I've read that maple has surface roots, I'm concerned about mulching around it. Can I mulch? If so, should I avoid any specific kinds of mulch? Can I put newspaper to stop the weeds and put some compost over it and plant some annuals like pansies? Or will that smother the maple roots (I'm guessing that it will smother)?

Thanks in advance for your replies