With 2.5 inches of rain in a week, I am not surprised you have saturated soil 20 inches down. I would find that to be fully expected and to dissipate as the weather dries. High water tables are not unusual and many plants will survive just fine under those fluctuating conditions.

And FWIW, very few trees have roots that penetrate the soil profile very deeply. As much as 85% of a tree's root system is concentrated in the top 16 inches. Most trees can handle temporarily saturated soils just fine. If it was the top 12 inches or so that remained wet or had pooling water, I might be more concerned but all the fine feeder roots and those that manage oxygenation are completely unaffected in this case.

That is a relief. Makes total sense, otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing large Japanese maple specimens all over here. Don’t know how I didn’t know this.

There are trees that can handle it, and trees that can't. There are trees that do fine on the high areas of my swamp, and trees that would eventually die there. Then there is the height increase from one side of my apparently flat side yard to the other. It's a lot more than you would think.

What are you planting?

I'm more concerned about what trees can survive inches from a solid fence.

Patience. There is still much to learn, grasshopper. 😶

Never said I was planting anything. That trench was for another project and I saw the water coming up and just wondered.

'I mean tree roots go 100s of feets deep ...'

Have you ever looked at a wind thrown tree? There is a large pancake of soil and roots just a few feet thick, not hundreds.

I’ve seen tons of those. Though I thought I saw one of Ken’s comment years ago saying trees going down 100s of feets deep. maybe I read it wrong or remembering something wrong…

Heruga, tree roots might go further down in pure sand searching for water, especially in dry climates. Most areas, tho, have a layer of bedrock not very far down.

are all my trees basically set up for complete doom and despair??
===>>> omg... rotflmbo....
please post pix of a tree in despair... lol..
as noted above: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=trees+blown+with+lifted+roots++over+in+wind&t=ftsa&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
and my own contribution from the neighbors septic field dig.. a 60 foot silver maple. ..

that maple tree wouldnt have even gotten to your water ... how about that sand.. anyone jealous.. dont be.. hard to grow any water loving plants in it.. drip irrigation was requisite for my hosta...
ken

ps: i see beng added the comment above.. while i was typing.. i dont think my pic supports that proposition... my hat cant be more than 12 inches.. hanging that way.... btw.. i had a back how in mu yard.. and that glacial sand goes down at least 10 to 12 feet ...