Never use these three things in your garden!

That is Point #3 in my book 'Garden and Landscape Design -  a Quick Start Guide.'  (Amazon) 

Never use: plastic lawn edging
Never use: gaudy colored mulch or stone
Never use: cheap concrete block retaining walls

Here we see all three at two homes just one block apart in suburban Chicago. This is very common.

 Never use plastic lawn edging or gaudy colored much or stone. They detract from the plantings. Your gardens should not be repositories of excess amounts of plastic. The eye is drawn to the red colored wood chip mulch. Is that attractive? The red dye can leach from the mulch in wet weather and might even stain.
The money spent on the edging and red mulch would have been better spent on more plants to fill in around the junipers. 


Another serious problem with plastic edging is that it is prone to "frost heave" in cold climates. The freeze/thaw cycle pushes it upward and out of the ground. The edging becomes susceptible to breaking and cracking from lawn mowers and foot steps. 
We like the practice of creating a mulched circle around tree trunks and not letting grass grow too close. The edge is easily maintained with a string trimmer or a spade. 


Never use cheap concrete block retaining walls. They are overused and often forced in serving no real purpose. In many subdivisions house after house on the same block has them. The walls in the photo are uneven. The one in the rear has the "roller coaster effect."
The tree here might even be damaged if soil has been piled behind the wall. Its roots are denied the air they need.

 Look inside "coffee table" books with photographs of fine gardens. They never show gardens that have any of these three things. 

 Please contact me if you need help with designing your gardens.

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