Will landscape fabric prevent plants from spreading?

I planted a new perennial bed today. I installed landscape fabric and mulch and I was careful to space the plants the correct distance. My black eyed susan plants, for example, are very small now, but are supposed to mature to 2-3 feet high and 2-3 feet wide. Will the plants actually spread to 2-3 feet wide with the landscape fabric installed? Or will the landscape fabric inhibit the plant from spreading? Should I remove the landscape fabric and just use mulch? Thanks for your help.

I'm not a big fan of landscape fabric in garden beds--it tends to be more trouble than it's worth over time. I'd use several layers of newspaper instead underneath the mulch if you want a little extra weed protection.

Thanks for the tip about the newspaper. Can you tell me what problems the landscape fabric might cause over time?

Has anyone else used landscape fabric in a garden bed? Did it keep the plants from spreading to their fully expected mature width? Thanks to all for your assistance.

I agree with ercane that weed fabric usually turns out to be more trouble than it is worth. But in answer to your question about it possibly inhibiting the growth or spread of some of your plants like the black eyed susan, my experience is that growing and expanding plants that spread from the crown are suprisingly strong and most will muscle the weed cloth up and out of their way. Plants that grow by runners will run across the mulch and send roots down to the weed cloth and suck enough moisture thru the cloth to grow there. I have some nicotina and other nasturtiums growing on top of weed cloth in only about a quarter inch of dirt. It is night time now but I will try to take a picture of that and post on this thread tomorrow. The quality of weed cloth varies a lot. I have had some grass and weeds growing right up through some types. I put some in the bottom of a raised bed and a butterfly bush and a mexican marigold mint and some type of origunum just punched roots right through it like it wasnt there. A lot of my yard has a native ground cover called "frog's fruit". I can lay my strongest and most expensive weed cloth over that stuff and it will still grow underneath there and raise the weed cloth up. Go Figger!! I guess my point in all this is to say that your plants and grass and weeds will defeat the weed cloth before long and you can have a mess trying to clean it up.

Weeds are going to find a way no matter what they use, but once they get their roots all tangled in the weed cloth they are much more of a pain to remove than if they just stuck their roots down through mulch and newspaper. Also I think your soil will be healthier in the long run if you use things like newspaper and mulch that break down better and add organic material to your soil vs something like landscape fabric that sits there for a long time before it breaks down.

Thank you Ecrane3 and Jaywhacker. I have decided to remove the landscape fabric and apply newspaper uder the mulch. I really appreciate both of you sharing your expertise with me. :)