Nah, I'm sure that there was a misunderstanding. Mike McGrath, the host of 'You Bet Your Garden' is a staunch proponent of mulch.

He might have warned about the use of FRESH wood mulch, or dyed wood products, or rubber mulch. He may have even warned about the use of wood (not bark) mulches in close proximity to parked cars and our homes due to the occurrence of artillery fungi. He may also have said to never pile mulch up against tree or shrub trunks.

Nature abhors a vacuum, so if there isn't mulch down on bare soil, then there should be a ground cover or some other means to keep temperatures moderated and conserve moisture in the soil. There are so many hideous things out there anymore people are mulching with, there are cases I imagine where no mulch would be preferable. LOL.

When I first got into horticulture and worked at a large independent garden center, our sales were primarily bark mulches. I've been away from that scene for twenty years now, and on the growing end and when I happen on places selling mulch (everyone from the supermarkets to the gas stations) I see that is not the case. My daughter who was doing landscaping went to install some annuals at a large corporation for a special occasion and the lawn maintenance contractor they'd hired had buried all their beds in so much mulch that the plants couldn't even make contact with soil, and she told them that.

Mulch can be very mis-used and abused. LOL. Perhaps your friend heard part of a statement. When I give garden talks, I sometimes hear back months later things I know I never said.

Thanks for the feedback. I was worried that there was a new trend out there that I didn't understand!

>When I give garden talks, I sometimes hear back months later things I know I never saidOne day I found out that it was believed at one of the giant garden centers here that I had told another shopper not to shop there during one of my visits.

After thinking about it for awhile I decided it must have based on the time I suggested to another shopper that if the store we were at didn't have it they might still be able to find it at another in the area.

I don't remember many other people being around while we were talking, which makes me wonder if this party pointed me out to an employee and announced that I had told them not to shop there. Or maybe we were overheard by an employee who heard it as something like "you should shop at another store" (instead of this one).

Wildly varying eyewitness accounts after traffic accidents and other occurrences shows how much people differ in what they see, hear and retain.