The Case Against Mulch Rings: A few reasons you should stop circling trees with mulch

[Trace One]

How about rings of impatiens  – that style almost defines the Hamptons..GACK!

[Thomas J. Johnson]

What are you gacking about the impatiens or the Hamptons 😉

[Rob Halpern]

Why stop there?

http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/productcart/pc/Perm-A-Mulch-Tree-Rings-Mulch-Mats-c84.htm

[nca]

I have no idea what you just wrote. Your message seems intelligible, but it’s not.

[Madeline Ann Sutter]

What don’t you understand?

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

There is a clear difference between a “mulch ring” and a “mulch volcanoe”. I don’t think anyone defends mulching against a trunk. The article is on mulch rings in general. There is a time and a place for a properly maintained mulch area around a tree that is surrounded by turf.

In fact there are times when someone may choose the wimsy of a goofy looking swiss cheese look. You and I may not appreciate it, but it does not make it inherently wrong.

Some landscapes are a little too much for Joe’s Lawn Care (JLC) to properly maintain, but it does not mean that the intent is for JLC to set foot on the property.

If one designs for properties that JLC is going to maintain then it is absolutely poor design to present a condition that is destined to failure.

There are plenty of folks out there that would consider the turf to be the wrong element in the provided picture. I, for one, would not have a universal condemnation for turf either – neither would I have a universal acceptance of it.

Everything is situational. When we assume criteria to judge a design, we may be inventing circumstances that do not apply.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

I hate to say it but those synthetic mulch rings have the potential to be hugely popular and profitable… just think of all the plastic landscapes you could create in AZ and SoCal with synthetic mulch rings, synthetic turf and maybe some nice synthetic rocks / boulders. 

Come to think of it, rubber boulders / rocks would be pretty cool. Like those felt rocks you see these days… you could have different sizes and colors, representing real geological phenomenon. But they’re soft!! Lay on them, sit on them, throw them at your friends!

 

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Not a bad idea… at $35 a pop, you can probably get them wholesale for $17.50. If you can move all 24 in a week that’s $420. Not bad in these times…

And as an added bonus, since you’re going door to door anyway, if they don’t need mulch rings you can always sell them as door mats. “Yes, ma’am, I understand that you don’t need mulch rings at this time but I did notice your door mat is a bit worn. Have you considered the benefits of a synthetic bark doormat?”

You could cut them into amorphous blobs, a la 1940’s pools, and put them in front of the door with a nice rubber boulder next to it. That would make for one trippy doorway. “Do I step on the bark or not… can I clean my shoes on this bark… will I track it through the house… maybe I’ll have a seat on this rubber boulder and think about it a bit before proceeding…”

And just to tie the whole thing together, this could be the door bell…

Between the bark doormat, the rubber boulder and the panic button, you could rest assured that visitors who proceeded were strange enough and possessed the right kind of humor to warrant answering the door.

OK, coffee is getting cold… and it’s time to find work… my mind is sufficiently limber to start the day…

[Trace One]

I can’t believe you didn’t mention them as a fashion item. I can just see one around Angelie Jolie’s neck as she does the red carpet..Might be good for your skin too, another selling point..

 

hee hee. I just remembered what Carol and Leslie from Andropoggon called the tree in a mulch island thing – they loved to compare the landscape to the human body, and I will leave the rest to your imagination, except to say that one of our attorney generals required them to be covered, on the statue of Justice at the DOJ.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Yes! Syn-Mulch: It accessorizes and exfoliates!

Notice a patch of dry skin as you’re walking the red carpet? Good thing you wore your Syn-Mulch shawl. A casual brush of the cheek on your shoulder and it’s gone! And when you get home, you can use it as a door mat! Act now and we’ll throw in a second Syn-Mulch tree ring/door mat/ shawl for free. That’s two Syn-Mulch tree ring/door mat/ shawls for the price of one. But wait, there’s more! For the next five minutes we’ll throw in a free rubber boulder. That’s right, a free rubber boulder. Sit on it, bounce it, play catch with it or use it as a really big eraser. It’s yours absolutely free if you call in the next five minutes. Don’t delay!

[Jon Quackenbush]

I agree with your take on the mulch rings 100%…

 

On a side note, I wish people would stop saying ‘Aesthetically pleasing‘, that is just bad English.  The root ‘aesthetic’ means having a sense of the beautiful, and adding the word ‘pleasing’ at the end not only lessens the meaning of the word, but also adds a drab redundancy.  Do we say “that thing is largely big”, or “that cup is overflowingly full”?  No.

 

I’ll get off my soapbox now… haha.

[Rob Halpern]

Well, maybe, but our times may require it as a contrast to “horribly pleasing”, “disturbingly pleasing”, “Goth pleasing” etc. The Dark Side has been popular for decades!

[Trace One]

Mr. Quackenbush, I believe you are mistaken…or is it misteaken..? (kidding.) Aesthetic does not place a value, it only refers to art and artistic sensibilities..

something can be aesthetically pleasing because it is artistically to your taste, or it can be aesthetically offensive, or offensive to your artistic sensibilities..

I love a good word fight, I am always on about how americans just flail away at words, often onlly getting close to the sound of the correct word without ever having seen the real word they are trying to use..

But I beg to differ, on this americanism..I think aesthetically pleasing is correct.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

I have to vote in favor of Mr. Quakenbush’s literal definition of “aesthetic”

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetically

However, I’m going to continue to say “aesthetically pleasing” because it’s a modern adaptation of the word. Words evolve and that’s how we use it now. It’s acceptable. In my search for a better understanding of origin of aesthetics I came across another modified usage of the term; “aesthetically challenged” as in, “those tree rings are aesthetically challenged.”

 

[Trace One]

I geuss I see it as the second definition, ‘artistic’, in your Miriam Webster – here’s my list

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aesthetic

 

perhaps they are both correct,

sorry, Henry, I have an aesthetic interest in argument.. (? )The deparment of argument.

 

 

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