I'm planning on doing a pollinator garden around/under a large silver maple tree. I would obviously not mulch by the trunk or on the roots exposed to the air, but I read that mulch more than 2" deep would hurt/smother the tree roots just under the soil surface and I really dont want to lose this tree. If I can't do more than 2" mulch, the grass will just grow back and I can't dig out the grass because of risk of damaging the roots, so, am I stuck with keeping the grass under the maple? Can I overseed with clover to choke out the grass or is a garden around the tree okay? Attached pictures of the outlined area (weed whacked cleared the grass for the outline) we were plannning on including in the garden plus a small section we already planted and woodchipped but will remove if it will hurt the tree. We don't want a slow 10 year tree death as we plan on living here for a very long time. Thank you!