That's what happens and why the stuff shouldn't be used.

I removed it at my place quite some years ago. But I suspect it will be a judgment call as to if you can remove all of it.

In any event, it won't be your favorite job.

Just cut it away around your plantings. If you pull away the mulch, you can also make a few slashes out from the base of the shrubs. Another year, you can make a few more slashes. I wore thick gloves and used one of my old serrated steak knives--an under sung garden tool, IMO. Scissors just get caught on stray bits of mulch too often to bear.

Going into fall, it's probably a good time for the job, since you'll get some root disturbance for sure. The cool weather and increased rainfall should help your plantings get over the insult.

Thanks, petalpatsy - I did pretty much what you recommended this AM. I agree that it should be a multi-year job. It's pretty ugly, and I'm sure I insulted my willows and barberry's and arborvitae - so I'll give them a year to adjust their root system and finish the job next fall. I'm sure it will be a big breath of relief for the bushes, I can't imagine they like having that landscape cloth there, choking them.

Your welcome, Joe. I don't know that the fabric bothers shrubs at first, and it stops old weed seeds from sprouting. The problem is, new seeds get blown in by the wind or dropped by those uncivilized birds. The new weed roots have no problem sinking down through the fabric and hence are impossible to pull.

The fabric does completely block earthworms from making their little tunnels, and there's no way to replenish the soil's fertility once it's depleted under the fabric. That soil becomes dead.

Fabric might have it's uses in commercial annual beds such as the annual bed my bank always seem to have. It makes a one time a year, no maintenance job of landscaping those small areas.

It's a nightmare for any home gardener with perrenials!