Is there something you simply won't permit in your garden? Something that makes your blood boil when you see its employ in the yards of others?
Taboo for me is the dyed mulch you see pictured above. This expensive, ghastly-colored material is used rather freely throughout my community. The local high school pours henna-red mulch in circles around the trees that adorn its front yard. All who pass notice the mulch, not the trees. Elsewhere, my bank spreads dyed, jet-black mulch around its foundation plantings. I once touched the stuff, and it stained my hands. Haven't these folks heard they can get free mulch, untainted by Clairol or L'Oreal?
Plastic ornaments...lethal chemicals...what, in the garden, is taboo for you?
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Monday, February 1, 2010
Not In My Garden!
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Couldn't agree with you more. I absolutely LOATHE red mulch! Last spring my neighbor spent hundreds of dollars on a spirea hedge. Her landscaper then promptly destroyed the effect by placing gobs of redder-than-red mulch beneath the shrubs.
What would I never allow in my garden? Plastic fencing, definitely.
I couldn't agree more about the dyed mulch, Kevin. And I'll add Roundup to the list -- sends cold shivers down my spine when I see people using it.
Kevin, I too hate red mulch.
And Tammy, I'm with you on Roundup. It not only rounds up weeds, but tree frogs and other critters, too. I use straight vinegar to eliminate weeds from the cracks in my stone walkways. I know some people just use boiling water for the same job.
I know its a matter of aesthetics, and others will have differing opinions, but I have a no-plastic policy in my garden. Plastic chairs, pots, hanging baskets, fencing and lattice work, all of these make my skin crawl!
Taboo in my garden: Too-strong color combos, i.e., yellow marigolds beside bright red salvia.
Cutesy figurines set among plants, or used in place of them!
Window boxes stuffed with plastic poinsettias in winter. Would you believe my neighbor does this? Just awful!
Welcome, Linnea. I have seen window boxes which display plastic poinsettias in winter, plastic pansies in spring, plastic petunias in summer, and plastic chrysanthemums in autumn. You have my sympathy!
I look forward to seeing you around here often!
A dead, deciduous tree. If you can't afford to remove it, at least make it decorative. Grow ivy or a climbing rose up its withered but sculptural body!
Kevin,
I must admit that I have few taboos in general and that does carry over into my garden. However, like you dyed mulch is something that I really just cannot abide. I am also not fond of bad topiary. A beautiful Boxwood or Taxus topiary will always have a place in my garden but never a corkscrew juniper.
Regarding plastic I very much dislike plastic lattice. As a matter of fact, much as I like good lattice work I think that lattice is greatly overused in general. When it is used I think that it should be completely framed so that the open ends are hidden.
Of course plastic flowers are a very definite NO!
Taboo around here is a pristine lawn. I refuse to use the chemicals to achieve one! Wish others focused more on ground covers than lawns.
Speaking of topiary, it is often used without any thought given to the style of house. Topiary, at least to my eyes, looks very wrong in front of contemporary structures.
Likewise those wooden barrel-planters. They do not belong in front of traditional houses any more than classical urns go with a log cabin.
Alan - welcome. If, by "traditional" you mean "formal," I shall agree with you. Barrel planters work well in association with informal, cottage-type houses and gardens.
Kevin, thanks for responding. Yes, I should have stated "formal," not "traditional."
Kevin, I cringe whenever I see red mulch. When do we see that color on wood in nature? It's so fake and gross! I have neighbors down the street that dedicate their lives to their garden. They have gorgeous flowers and shrubs and then the spoil it all with red mulch! I think it should be illegal, along with blue eyeshadow!
In my garden, all of the following are forbidden:
l. Dyed mulch
2. Cutesy ornaments
3. Painted bamboo stakes (I prefer the unpainted ones)
4. Plastic bird baths
5. Systemic insecticides
This is for Eric, who posted the first comment on this thread.
I once worked for a landscaping outfit, and I can tell you that no landscaper worth his salt would EVER recommend dyed mulch! I suspect your neighbor INSISTED on it.
Charles, she very well may have. She's the kind of gardener who has as many cheap ornaments as plants in her yard. I'll bet the landscaper tried to talk her out off red mulch -- no one else in the neighborhood uses it.