The Best Mulch for Flowerbeds
The best mulch is the one you are willing to maintain.
Experiment and invest in the one that suits your landscape and climate.
Compost
The Spruce / Steven Merkel
Compost is organic material in various stages of decomposition.
The Spruce / Jacob Fox
Mature compost is dark brown and crumbly with soil-like particles, and it has an earthy smell.
The compost will slowly work down into the soil and need to be refreshed over the growing season.
It also will eventually break down into the soil.
The Spruce / Steven Merkel
Organic or Inorganic Mulch?
In reference to mulch, organic doesnt mean the absence of chemicals.
Shredded bark from native trees is always better than other wood-based mulch options.
The Spruce / Steven Merkel
Organic mulches will eventually break down and need to be refreshed.
Inorganic mulch examples include rubber, plastic, rocks, or even aluminum foil.
These materials will not decompose into the soil.
The Spruce / Jacob Fox
Dyed Mulch
Red, brown, and blackdyed mulchesare showing up in landscapes everywhere.
The color will fade over time, making the landscape seem reminiscent of a down-at-the-heels office park.
However, some gardeners like the aesthetics of dyed mulch, and the fad continues.
The Spruce / Jacob Fox
Rocks
There are pros and cons to rock mulches.
Rocks dont break down, and therefore provide a semi-permanent mulch (even rocks get dispersed over time).
Rocks wont improve your soil and may look untidy when dead plant material accumulates on them.
The Spruce / Jacob Fox
Reserve rock mulches foralpine flowers, which thrive in rocky sites in nature.
Rubber Mulch
If youre worried that your mammothsunflowersorhollyhocksmight fall and hurt themselves, use rubber mulch.
Fresh chips are safe to use as mulch, as long as they arent mixed into the soil.
The Spruce / Jacob Fox
However, gardeners venture to camouflage it with wood chips, and the chips will eventually break down.
Also known as green manures, these crops are usually used in fallow vegetable beds.
After the pine needles have dried, they become pine straw.
The Spruce / Michele Lee
Gardeners withcamelliaorazaleaplants may seek out pine needles to help acidify the soil.
Aged pine needles average 6.0 pH, a slightly acidic pH that allows most flowering plants to thrive.
Straw mulch is added to lawns, vegetable gardens, and small fruits.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Its messy appearance doesn’t offer an aesthetic appeal in ornamental flower beds, so landscaping use is limited.
Can I Mulch With This?
Here are additional organic and inorganic mulches to experiment with in flowerbeds.
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