This is so frustrating. I would do as houssaon said for plants. I might ask for the painter to pay for more mulch.

WestCoast Hopeful we're indeed very frustrated. Thank you both for good ideas.

Remove the rock mulch, replacing it with cypress mulch; a better landscaping component that deters insects, looks natural to go with your fence, and stays looking good for a long time. Plus, it isn't a big deal to remove it if you want something else. I spent two seasons digging out rock mulch so I could plant a day lily bed. It is not a good option. Cut back the damaged parts of the plant and it should do fine.Take pix before and see if the painter's employer (if any) will eat part of the mulch replacement cost.

I've spent the last 20 years sifting rock 'mulch' out of my flower beds. Worst freaking idea ever to 'mulch' with gravel.

Would not add mulch. Would stir the stone and any existing mulch to try to blend the color into the flower bed.

People saying they don’t like stone have you not looked at the garden. This is clearly not plant filled. It is mostly stone. It is an entirely different look that bark mulch

If the painter sprayed the whole area that looks gray about 2 feet from the fence, he should replace the rocks. If it is just the area about 2 inches from the fence (could be shadow), he should replace those rocks.

Damage to plants is not visible to me in the photos. If the plants die, he should replace them.

I can’t see what you are concerned about. I see a shadow under the fence - is that paint instead of a shadow? And I don’t see any paint on your plants.

Maybe you could circle the damage.

I wonder if stirring up the rocks would make the stain less noticeable. As Little Bug said, it currently looks like a shadow in your photos.

We just did our back yard in gravel mulch with perennials planted where we wanted them I love it and no need to have to add to it all the time and the weeding is 80% less not to mention watering is less too since now we have no grass . BTW we have 2200sq ft of desck all around our house so the grass was never a good idea since we have huge trees everywhere ,As for the mulch getting some paint on it rake it to break up the bigger areas of the paint and the plants will recover but I would complain to the painter for sure. I agree I really do not see much paint.

Off topic but eventually dust and soil will get down in those rocks and weeds will start to grow. That's why I pretty much only use gravel for driveways or very limited spots like under a faucet or downspout. JMHO

I don't see the problem with OP's gravel, looks fine to me.

Been there, done that :-( The entry to my unit (at the back of the house) is covered by my landlady's deck. Her grandson very nicely came to make some needed deck repairs and when finished, proceeded to stain the repaired deck and new railings. But the dumb bunny used a sprayer to apply the stain.....you can imagine the results! Overspray all over my containerized plants down below, including several Japanese maples, hydrangea, conifers etc. Not to mention on my patio furniture and stripes of stain dots on the concrete surface that align precisely with the deck board spacing overhead..........

Long story short, while they looked funky for the rest of the growing season, all the plants recovered nicely and were unaffected by the overspray in any permanent way. I am still trying to remove the stain from my metal lawn furniture........

And just an FYI but cypress mulch is a very regional product, limited mostly to the southeast. And of any wood mulch product is the most environmentally unfriendly. Most wood mulches are by-products of the timber industry but native cypress trees are harvested specifically for the mulch industry, decimating native stands. There are other, much more responsible alternatives.

gardengal48, thank you. I just don't understand why they do this. I'm glad your plants recovered. I'm hoping the grass will too, because we just realized that he sprayed beyond the fence, on a section of the community's lawn.

Thanks everyone...unfortunately, those are not shadows, but black/grey rocks that were once white. We use rocks for water mitigation, and pest and bug control.

I think you should ask him to add a new layer of white rock on the areas he sprayed. Hopefully you have not fully paid him?

>>Most wood mulches are by-products of the timber industry but native cypress trees are harvested specifically for the mulch industry, decimating native stands.

Yikes, I did not know this. I don't buy mulch anyway, got plenty of free, but I assumed the cypress was like everything else and that they were making cypress lumber from the trees.

calidesign, Hi. We haven't fully paid. He's arguing that this was unavoidable, and it's not his fault.

Any ideas for fixing the stained grass?

The grass will recover since what is stained will be mowed off soon.

It WAS his fault. Obviously, he should have covered the rocks before spraying. what was he thinking? Or not.

K Laurence exactly our perspective, especially since he told us he was going to cover them. He also spilt stain on the community lot and walkway behind the fence. I'm so disappointed.

I would get an estimate from someone to come out and fix the mess. I would then present it to the painter - either you fix what you damaged or I will deduct it from the remainder of you bill. Since he is now walking back on his promise to cover/protect the groundcover he will likely not do a good job of fixing the problem if it gets to that. If it does you need to be very firm on exactly what you want done. If you don't he'll just run a rake over to spread it around and then say it is done.