In this Wall Street Journal article, Jason Parker from Davey's Warminster office adds insight into how shrubs and hedges aren't friendly to homeowner's foundations.
When my Northern California town adopted Ordinance #1309 in 2019 -strongly urging homeowners to clear shrubs, hedges and even herbs from the 5-foot zone around their houses to help prevent wildfires - I took it personally.
My lavender and I had been together for years. We'd survived droughts, gophers and a remodel. Now we were social pariahs.
But recently I dug in (mostly to build a case against the ordinance) and unearthed a painful truth: Foundation plantings are bad. Not just for fire zones - everywhere.
Experts - garden designers, horticulturists and forestry ecologists - agree. Those leafy green borders you think flatter your house? They're quietly wrecking it, causing moisture damage, mildew, blocked vents, termites living rent free behind a veil of greenery and roots tunneling into crawl spaces.
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