“GOT MULCH?”
The other day I realized that I hadn’t
bought any mulch for outside for several years. Guess my biggest reasons for
not getting it are three-fold: When it rains heavily, the mulch disappears.
Those bags are hard to lug around. And it can get expensive.
How did we all become mulch obsessed?
When I was little, I never heard of it; no doubt no one else did either. No one
used it around plants or trees. No one. Everyone had either trees or shrubs in
their yards but flowers were always out in the back yard. It was a given. Considered tacky to have flowers out in the
front yard!
This went on for years—the plain yard
that was easy to take care of except for trimming shrubbery and grass mowing.
Then in the seventies came the advent of hanging plants for outside and the
macramé phase. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon on macramé hangers for flowers
or plants. Either some people learned to macramé or they bought these hangers
for plants. In my case, I bought them.
After this phase, came the doing of
clustering potted plants or flowers together on a front porch or sidewalk. Took
off like a bang! And then people started using window boxes for
flowers—everyone did it if their window ledges were big enough.
I’m not really sure when the mulch phase
started but am guessing about fifteen years ago or maybe a little more. If a
person didn’t have mulch around all shrubbery or plants, he or she was
outnumbered. And the craze only got worse.
Face it:
Some people are just plain mulch addicts. And so are people who own
businesses: They hire people to put down tons of mulch around shrubbery and
trees. It’s expensive and has to be
added to for mulch fades and/or disappears over a period of time. Granted it
looks nice but who started this mulch craze? Have no idea.
As for me got mulch? That would be a no.
I am worn out with it. Real nature doesn’t have mulch around plants or
trees—never have seen it in the woods ever. But if anyone sees it there, then
know that a mulch addict has been there perpetuating the craze.
Sherry Hill
Not raking up around trees when their leaves fall will give you all the mulch you need. It's just a different look, but it's the look of nature.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea! Really I like the look of mulch around flowers and plants but just worn out with it for now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe!