Using Mulch in Landscape Design - Easy Does It!

In landscape design and maintenance, it is most certainly possible to have too much of a good thing. Properly used, mulch can enhance your landscape design aesthetically and reduce landscape maintenance requirements. But mounding up mulch around a tree to form a little volcano can damage a tree, as illustrated in this article.

I love the way the author of the article makes the point, quoting urban forester, Alan Siewert as referring to an "epidemic" that will be responsible for more tree deaths over a 10-15 year period "than gypsy moths and all the natural pests we have." What is this epidemic? Homeowners who use too much mulch around their trees!

The very mention of "gypsy moths" makes many people cringe. I was lucky when my region had its worst outbreak of gypsy moths, back in 1981. I was overseas at the time, so I avoided the invasion. My parents told me horror stories of not wanting even to step out of the house, so overpowering was the gypsy moth presence! All I could think of was, "This is Alfred Hitchcock material!"