Fuck Decorative Mulch 2012

Fortress of solitude. 

What the hell. Why do we do this? Why do we bulwark our homes with moats of mulch?

Historically, planting exotics about one's property was a sign of power and affluence. Of course such exotics were rarely able to survive among locally adapted vegetation, so a tool, mulch, was needed to exclude them from competition. There is no aesthetic charm* there, in that exclusion. It's apparently still practiced for the association with wealth. And, like with so many stupid things, people often do it just because they think they're "supposed to". My dad recently planted a beautiful oak. He proceeded to sequester the trunk with mulch and plastic edging. Tragic. That trunk should make a seat. No one wants to walk barefoot across or sit on (or make love on) mulch. pffft!

Likewise, one should feel welcomed to rest against the side of a building, like the trunk of a tree or a smooth boulder, as if it is set into and a part of the landscape. If you must have your grass, let it grow right up to the building, like this:

Doesn't this feel so much more welcoming?  So much more welcome?

*See Kuntsler's excerpt in previous post "Architecture Without Architects".