Fashion faux pas:
Black socks with white sneakers
Landscape faux pas: Black volcano mulch
Hello Fellow Readers,
I am grateful to all that came to the Springfest Garden Show and attended my lecture, along with Marty Carson of Three Seasons, on the Dos and Don’ts of Landscape & Garden Design. It was a lighthearted spin comparing garden don’ts to fashion blunders. To follow are a few slides of the dos and don’ts that got the greatest laughs. Wearing shorts with black socks and white sneakers or socks with sandals; comparing these fashion faux pas to using dyed mulch. And, wearing the correct undergarments and right-sized clothes to prevent muffin tops; comparing it to proper planting protocols to assure the health and beauty of your plants.
Fashion faux pas:
Muffin Top
Landscape faux pas:
Improper root space
After our presentation, a handful of great questions came from the group. One that I thought was critical to share was using cocoa mulch asked Debra of Sparta. I confessed that I wasn’t familiar with it and asked the audience. Thankfully a quick reply from a kind soul shared that cocoa mulch is highly toxic to animals.
I learned the mulch is leftover from the cocoa bean roasting process, which is said to be more environmentally friendly compared with other mulches. However, as Dr. Maureen McMichael of the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital, writes, “Cocoa mulch is significantly more toxic than milk chocolate or even baker’s chocolate because it has quite a bit more theobromine in it.” Theobromine is the toxic compound in most chocolates which is deadly to pets, especially dogs. Chocolate or cocoa mulch toxicity can result in hyperactivity, muscle tremors, fast heart rate, hyperthermia, and seizures which can be fatal.
After a time, the sweet smell of the cocoa mulch will subside and may be less appealing to your canine kid, but the toxicity does not go away. So stay clear of cocoa mulch, especially if you have outdoor pets. How much we are learning from each other! Thank you for all of your questions.
Garden dilemmas? askmarystone@gmail.com
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