Some landscaping practices should be avoided. Below are my top three landscaping pet peeves.

Tags left on Plants

Why would anyone leave plant tags fluttering in the wind? Leaving tags on plants takes a beautiful landscape and makes it look like the side of the highway. Please remove all tags before leaving the job.

I occasionally leave a tag on a new plant, at my house, so I can remember what I planted or learn a plant’s name. However, if you’re bringing a plant to someone’s house either know what it is or keep a list of what you planted.

A great way to practice plant identification is to walk through a newly installed commercial landscape. Guess what the tree or shrub is and check the tag to see if you got it right!

Landscape Fabric

There’s never a reason to install landscape fabric under mulch.

In a few years, the mulch will break down and weeds will grow into the fabric becoming a headache to remove. In ten to fifteen years, when it’s time to redo the landscape, someone will suffer while ripping the fabric out. If you’ve never ripped out landscape fabric I assure you it’s no fun.

There’s never a reason to install landscape fabric under gravel either.

Dirt settles in gravel and creates the perfect seedbed for weeds. Weed roots anchor to landscape fabric under gravel the same as under mulch. It’s more of a hassle than it’s worth.

Volcano Mulching

Trees are not supposed to look like a fountain of lava shooting out of the top of a volcano. If you leave mulch against the base of a tree you’re doing more harm than good.

A properly mulched tree should have, at most, two to three inches of mulch tapering down six inches or more away from the tree.

Please stop the volcano mulching madness.

If you’re new to landscaping please heed the pet peeves on this page so your landscape doesn’t suffer.