Anything is better than shredded pallets . . .
I’ve been in the industry for 45 years now, from working at a nursery during high school to the
Landscape Architecture school at Penn State to some years in retail and finally my sales career. I’m always surprised by how much of what I was taught in my early years was misguided.
Take mulching for example. Every year you need to put down another 1-2”, right? That’s like one of the 10 commandments of horticulture. But now we know that it isn’t the dream of all the plants we sell to spend their lives surrounded by a circle of chopped-up pallets. No! Like us, the plants want to live in contact with each other.
When you see the term “Green Mulch”, maybe you think of the traditional groundcovers- pachysandra, vinca, ivy, etc. but those groundcovers don’t always play well with other plants. We should expand our thinking to a host of other plants that do what mulches do- prevent weeds, stop erosion, and keep the soil cooler- and they do all that while providing more beauty and more food for the pollinators.
Shady Sites
Some of the plants I’ve had success with here at my 6 acres include a number of native cared, Allegheny pachysandra, wild ginger, phlox divaricata, and many tiarella cultivars.
Sunny Sites
Many native grasses are great depending on the height you want. I have used deschampsia, sporobolus, and schizachyrium. For some plants with a little more color, try packera, chrysogonum, sedums, calamintha, and thyme.
Try to fill in some of your mulched areas with these plants. It’s a win-win- more beauty, happier pollinators, less money, and less effort spent on wood mulch.
Note- plants in bold type can be found at Marjac Nursery. Feel free to email me for more information.
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