Coloured mulch is garden cancer

Am I meaning to be sensationalist with the title of this piece? Yeah probably. Do I apologise to anyone upset by my use of the word cancer? Yes absolutely. But seriously, coloured mulch available in 10 colours, am I the only one who has a problem with this? From where I sit the use of it is a kin to a cancer slowly spreading through garden beds across this nation. It creeps across the ground poisoning the soil and deadening the imagination of the user. Once infected the users use of plants becomes spasmodic and the area slowly becomes sanitized and dull.

What ever happened to colour anyway? I'm referring to annual bedding plants and colourful perennial border displays. These once common plant outs offered pretty much any colour combination you could want. I know they still exist here an there but they seem to have been removed from the colour pallet of the landscape designers, architects and home gardeners of today. Will we ever again see annual beds of seasonal colour planted in our parks and gardens? Will long lasting coloured mulch (now available with even longer lasting colourfastness) be the norm? From my point of view I'd rather be buried six feet beneath it rather than looking at it from above!

I understand drought had a big impact on this form of gardening and in particular the decision makers who make the call to plant in public spaces. Public open space is one thing and for the same reasons I assume private gardens have suffered the same fate. Maybe its just a trend that we are going through, perhaps not dissimilar to the flax epidemic of recent times or box hedges and iceberg roses back in the early 90's. I'm hoping its just another cycle but I have a bad feeling about this one. I fear its become too easy and too cost effective to now move away from the bare spaces of bland coloured mulch we have today.  How do you influence and set trends in horticulture? I wish I knew the answer to that, what I do know is that the brilliance of flower and foliage colour should never be replaced by the black and white decisions of bean counters in positions of power.