The trees can't be too big. Ginkgo trees are rarely grown nowadays, too conspicuous would draw too much attention, so they got those with trunk about the diameter of a bowl. While digging, they found something wrong, so they simply removed all the mud around the tree roots. Since the tree was small, many of its leaves and branches were removed – better to plant it knowing it might not survive and replace it later, rather than accidentally bringing out those weird bugs, which would be too terrifying.
After digging each tree, they threw it on the floor, and carefully checked for any strange bugs before leaving them out at the break of dawn.
This should be enough. Planting a circle of willows by the river and gingko trees a bit further inland. Plant some roses in the middle of the open ground. Once the trees grow, this barren land will be completely transformed.
