If you are paying a landscaping company to bring your backyard to life with plants and trees, you should be able to trust that they are creating healthy conditions for the plants to thrive.
In a Reddit post on r/gardening, a user lamented their newly landscaped backyard, which was done by a landscaping company. The trees and plants that were put in, despite being considered low-maintenance, began dying quickly.
In the photo in the post, two small trees and a plant, drying and browning, are shown on top of a bed of rocks. "Any ideas on how to help it recover beyond watering?" the OP asked in the caption, while also providing context that they had been watering consistently and temperatures had been very high.
The case was solved by a commenter, who pointed out the bed of rocks the trees were on, stating: "You created an oven. Get the rocks away from the plants."
This post brings up the importance of cultivating native habitats for native plants and native animal species. A way to do this is by focusing on ecological landscaping.
In an excerpt from the Ecological Landscape Alliance's website, it is explained that "by studying the inter-relationships between living things, non-living things, and the environment, ecological landscapers can create a landscaped community that will conserve natural resources, preserve biodiversity, and protect the environment."
Considering this, it seems as though the landscapers who put trees on a bed of rocks in a very hot climate were not considering the natural ecology of the native environment. Alternatives to landscaping can also include completely rewilding your yard or covering your yard with clover in lieu of grass to reduce the need to water and use harmful pesticides.
🗣️ What's the hardest thing about taking care of your yard?
🔘 Mowing the lawn 🏡
🔘 Controlling weeds 🌿
🔘 Keeping pests at bay 🐿️
🔘 I don't have a yard 🤷
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
Commenters on the post agreed that the rocks were causing the trees to die so quickly.
"The sun is heating up the rocks which act as a low temperature oven, baking the trees and plants. They can't get enough water through the trunk to survive," added one user.
"You paid someone to do this? I hope it was cheap," joked another.
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