Mulch Ado About Nothing

By C.L. Fornari

Published May 2, 2026 at 3:05 PM EDT

The guest on The Garden Lady on May 2^nd was Jon Laurie, Director of Municipal Outreach for the Black Earth Compost Company. Among other spring topics, callers to the program asked about squirrels eating the new growth on trees, groundcover for hot, dry areas, and getting rid of pea-gravel mulch.

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C.L. Fornari

C.L. Fornari is the author of eight books, including Coffee for Roses and The Cocktail Hour Garden. She’s a professional speaker, the former host of GardenLine on WXTK, and co-host of the Plantrama podcast. She is a frequent speaker to groups nationwide, and has worked for a family-owned independent garden center for 25 years. C.L. grows vegetables, flowers, shrubs, trees and numerous other plants at Poison Ivy Acres on Cape Cod. In 2015 C.L. launched the Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, a ten-day regional celebration of gardens that typically raises over $100,000.00 for local non-profits every year and draws public attention to Hydrangeas and gardening.

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