Weeds have evolved for thousands of years with us. Most of our activities favor weeds. Disturbing the soil with tilling or disking favor weeds. Fertilizer favors weeds. Watering favors weeds. Soil compacted by vehicles, our ditches, pollution, and plastic favors weeds.

Those plastic weed barrier products favor weeds, our native plants have died under plastic 'mulch'. I suppose if you aired out the plastic for a month or so before using it the natives might be ok with it. Plastic Landscape fabric has not worked very well in any landscape we've seen. In the nursery we use the landscape fabric on gravel in the greenhouses, but we have to drag them out and shake them off, or sweep them off every year or so. The dirt builds up on the surface and weeds get established on top of them, weeds grow through them, weeds grow under them, lifting the plastic.

The soil-mulch interface is where a number of the soil building, root activities, and weed suppression occur. Putting plastic in this interface. I cannot understand how plastic landscape fabric can fit into an ecosystem. Weeds are bothered by it, good plants are killed by it.

Clear plastic has been used to sterilize the soil with solar heat. It does a great job of killing most everything in the top ½ inch of soil, including the good guys that help suppress weeds. So the next year you have huge juicy weeds. Definitely don't put solid plastic around already established plants it will cook them or suffocate them. Putting the plastic down with bark or chips has been the pits! After a few years the bark breaks down and the plastic is exposed, the plastic breaks down and peels back. So, use the plastic if you like a yard of weeds, plastic pieces that look like shredded garbage bags, with unhappy or dead plants in it. Maybe an old car on blocks could complete the theme.