What are some ideas for landscaping around exposed tree roots?

You can plant around the roots with plants that will grow with the light they will get. You don't want to add a lot of soil up at the tree trunk as you can kill the tree if you alter the soil level at the tree. The roots should be ok to cover. Put up some bricks to contain the soil if you add it around the roots. Perhaps use mulch around the tree itself without the soil to tie it all together. You can go out as far as you need to from the tree and you won't have to worry about hitting the roots with the lawn mower.

You can brick a circle around the tree or build a rock wall. Pine straw or beauty bark wood chips or a shade garden.

Make you some gnome homes or fairy gardens.

My mama's mama always planted buttercups and petunias around trees. And she said never to cover the "knots"-- the roots that came up from the ground and went back in. Best wishes 😇

I had two 80' pine trees in my backyard. The roots were horrible and the lawn mower always had trouble with them. I planted Lily of the Valley around one of the pines and they grew like weeds! The second pine, I made a kidney shaped large garden around using large rocks I had collected. I added a walking path thru the middle and planted Hydrangea, Lenton Rose, Lilly, Hardy Hybiscus, Myrtle, Wind Flowers and more. Looked great and solved a large problem. I eventually spread the garden to incorporate a smaller Red Bud tree and added a water feature at it's base.