Have a certified arborist come out and look at the tree. In my opinion, it is too close to the house. And it doesn’t look in the best of health. Regardless of its species....I would wait until it blooms one more time and then....remove it. And have the stump ground down so that you can create your planting beds. Perhaps then you can plant a new tree of some sort in its memory in your front yard where it will have room to grow without encroaching on your house. Good luck!

Looks like a very old Dogwood. Once they reach a certain age they don't really grow much anymore. They just linger and slowly wither away. If you are building a raised planter box and filling it with soil around the tree trunk, that is a death sentence. Cut it down. Plant a new pink blossom tree out of the box.

We used to have a tree that was planted (many years before us) too close to our house. We had to have it taken out, have a plumber come out to check out our plumbing and do maintenance for a while after the tree & stump removal. We were told the roots could not all be removed and would continue growing underneath. I hope you won’t have those issues but I do suggest get the tree removed as soon as you can. You have a beautiful home. It will be better framed with a tree placed farther away from your house. Enjoy your home!

Yes, it's a Cornus florida. Its main problem seems to be all the chopping parts of it off that has gone on. Also there seems to be work taking place underneath it, that probably isn't going to do it any good either.

Best bet at this point would be to remove it - including the stump - get whatever you are going to do with the spot where it is completed and then plant a new tree afterward. Probably farther out from the house.

i would be done with it ... is useful life is over ... plant another.. further from the house.. after this project is done ...

you dont mention how deep the bed is you are building.. but you can not bury tree trunk in soil ... so if its more than one brick high ... it might end up killing the tree... plus all the excavation ...

the worst would be building this new bed.. only to tear it all up.. to have to remove the tree in a year or two ...

besides.. its too close to the house anyway.. and that is probably why it has previously butchered ...

i think you are getting good advice.. dont fight it ...

ken

That's a shame. I'm sure it's beautiful when it's blooming but its time has probably come. I like the advice to have one more bloom--you can confirm the ID and get the correct replacement. (And correct placement.)

The house looks great though!

Not a shame at all!! The tree has been malpruned to the point where it is not the slightest bit attractive a feature and is detracting from the appearance of your charming home. Even in full flower, the looks will not be significantly improved. And the placement sucks!! Far too close to the structure for the type of tree and the reason it has been butchered into its current form.

Don't even think twice about this :-) Get rid of it. Find some other flowering tree you like and plant it at distance far enough away from the house so the tree can grow unimpaired and not need to whacked into a hideous shape.

Your advice has been sooooooo helpful. It's coming down. Now what should we replace it with? (closer to center of lawn)

Start a new thread with new pictures after the tree has been removed. With the camera in hand, stand on the city walk, lined up with the center of the house, and take a wide series of slightly overlapping shots as you pan across the yard. Start an end wide enough that we can see the walk in starting and ending photo -- that's 180*. (We need to see the backgrounds that include the neighboring homes.)

OT and you didn't ask about this, but why the raised planter as opposed to putting the boxwood etc. directly in the ground? It's hard to remove a tree, but exciting to decide on a new one. : -)) P.S. The house is looking gorgeous!

What is your zone? Which direction does your house face?