You are asking good questions. Questions that I failed to ask long ago when I planted pomegranates only a few inches higher than the surrounding soil in the brown clay here. After several years of good growth, some periods of excessive rain and long lasting water puddles near the trees set the stage for root rot, and eventually some trunks on a tree would just dry up and die while the others would continue growing. After another year maybe another trunk would dry and die, and later another. When it came time to dig up dead trees with big trunks, it was AMAZING how little root mass was left below the ground.....Lesson learned......In the last several years more poms have been planted and they are doing great, but they are planted 100% on top of the undisturbed clay inside of a newly formed mound of rich/organic/light soil mix that is piled up like a small plateau that sits a little higher than the root ball. The trees are staked upright with steel electrical conduit so they grow straight while the roots start filling the mound and eventually chase water and nutrients down into the clay below when the trees are good and ready to do that. I don't leave any low spots near the trees where water puddles could hang around too long. Good luck.

Yes: where existing soil is thought to be hostile to the particular kinds of plants being attempted you want to stay completely out of that soil, by either mounding on top of it or digging out a big bed, refilling it with more suitable soil.

However, where drainage is bad enough drain lines may still have to be installed - unless the berms or mounds are high enough to keep the plants well above the water table that forms during the wettest periods.

All long term plantings that are going to last have to endure the most extreme weather events that occur during the life of the planting, including wet periods that result in puddling or flooding. This is why drain lines may be needed on many sites that have a history of excessive dampness.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely mound upward. A few follow up questions, though.

I've heard that when you plant into amended soil over something like clay, the plants roots might never leave the amended soil area. Is this true, or should the roots ultimately make their way down into the clay below. And if it's true, does this mean I need to make an extra huge hole/mound to begin with since it is really more like planting into a container and I want the container to be big enough for the full sized tree?

Along those lines, I know the mounded area will ultimately settle. Do any of these - honeyberries, bush cherries and pomegranates - react badly if I wind up mounding new material (soil and/or mulch) around the trees. In other words, if I need to add more later to keep things mounded and that means mounding up around the bottom of the trunk will most of these species ultimately just root out from the trunk if part of the trunk winds up being below the surface or might I be doing more harm than good? All are on their own roots so that isn't an issue, but I know some plants react badly to being buried deeper. I'm just trying to figure out if I need to start mounded say 1 foot high if I ultimately expect settling down closer to 6 inches over a few years.

I want to enjoy these plants for a long time, so I'm trying to give them the best long term situation, especially since I'm sort of on one fringe or another of each one's zone range. But of course I don't want to be excessive, so I'd like to do keep the digging, mounding and amending within reason.

Thanks again.

Chapter two. "Undisturbed clay" means that I have not done ANY digging/chopping/slicing/amending/adding/subtracting where the plant's root ball will be placed on top of the clay. If one was to excavate a crater-shaped amount of clay and fill it with nothing but air, it will hold lots of water for a long time after the clay is fully hydrated/expanded. Swimming pool. If one was to fill the crater with something other than air, like rich organic soil/pecans/sand/beanie babies/rusty horseshoes/crushed soda pop cans/etc.,...., the clay crater will still hold lots of water inside of it once the clay is fully hydrated/expanded. Swimming pool. Good for water lilies and lotus plants. B A D for poms..........which are "desert" plants more than swamp plants...........Making a plateau-shaped mound of rich soil mix on top of the clay with the root ball in the center will necessitate special slow/easy watering so that the plateau does not get washed away. As the plateau mound does settle downward or gets some of it's shape eroded away, I just add more of the same soil mix to restore it to the original size/shape. After a year or 2 of good growing, I add more of the soil mix around the outside of the plateau mound to enlarge it for the plant roots to widen also. Roots chase moisture and nutrients. Sideways and downways. Indeed, into the clay over time. Been there. Done that. with lots of different fruit plants over a decade. MUCH left to learn, but at least my plant drownings have been greatly reduced...... Regarding the use of clay to make a water holding device, a county extension agent who is the functioning soil specialist in this county said in the past that when a rancher has trouble making a water tank/pond for his cattle because of the soil being too porous, that he tells them to get the same bulldozer that dug the tank/pond to spread about a one foot thick layer of clay on top of the porous soil in the hole. The hauled-in loads of clay do the sealing so that the water has no chance to just sink downward and escape.

I have the same questions Walter & nobody has answered them have they?

How deep do the roots grow & is 3 feet wide & 18" deep enough??