Anonymous wrote:if you fo not mulch and do not clean up the dead plants over the winter, do you need to cut them back in the spring or just let them stay where they fall?

Cutting back and cleaning up is just to make it look tidy, if that matters to you. The plants will come up and bloom even if you don’t cut them back. I do something called chop and drop where you cut back last year’s dead stalks and such, chop them up a bit, and then leave them in the bed as mulch. It’s an in-between measure - tidier than just leaving it all standing, better for wildlife than cutting to the ground and taking it away.

Woah that's expensive for mulch. We just buy the bags ourselves for like $50 and fill in spots that are getting low.

Open areas under mature trees and certain areas where plants need space I do mulch, primarily to control weeds. I've experimented with this a lot. Without mulch, my yard becomes a weedy mess in about two weeks. With it, my maintenance requirements drop by 2/3rds at least. That's just reality.

Anonymous wrote:Why do people spread wood mulch close to the house? Then they are needing to be more concerned about termites.

Umm, no.

I use our heavily wooded border lot’s leaves as mulch around flower beds and borders of my yard. Except for ivy, it drowns the weeds out and helps the little critters survive. I cut the stalks for Autumn joy and hydrange only in the early Spring.

if you fo not mulch and do not clean up the dead plants over the winter, do you need to cut them back in the spring or just let them stay where they fall?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want no weeds and nicely trimmed plantings that are well spaced and immaculately shaped, then, yes, you need to mulch each year. Then you won’t need to weed things weekly. The weeds stay at bay and you can waltz right by and enjoy the view.

You do you, but that looks hideous to me

NP. It looking hideous must be why everyone in my 3M+ neighborhood does mulch.

Why do people spread wood mulch close to the house? Then they are needing to be more concerned about termites.

Mulch is bad because (1) it attects bugs, and (2) it repels bugs. Got it, thanks!

Anonymous wrote:If you want no weeds and nicely trimmed plantings that are well spaced and immaculately shaped, then, yes, you need to mulch each year. Then you won’t need to weed things weekly. The weeds stay at bay and you can waltz right by and enjoy the view.

You do you, but that looks hideous to me

We pay a company 850 for premium black mulch on a 1/3 acre with 15 trees and 10 shrubs mulched to include weeding and edging. You’re getting ripped off. Time to shop around.