How to Pick the Right Color Mulch

Once the warm months set in around here, one of the first things that most people think about is putting down their mulch. Mulch is very important and makes all the difference in your garden beds but there is definitely a good time and a bad time to put mulch down in my opinion. When the spring starts, a lot of different seedlings, leaves and such fall from the trees as well as the pollen.

Therefore, just from my experience, putting mulch down in June tends to work best here in MA because then you do not have to constantly clean out all of the stuff falling from the trees. The reasons why you should put mulch down are:

1. Mulch is great for your trees health, growth, and care

2. It helps provide a buffer from heat and cold temps

3. It retains water which helps keep the roots moist

4. Mulch prevents weeds

Another important decision when it comes to mulch is the color. Some of you may not be aware that mulch comes in three different colors - black, brown and red. When choosing the color for your home there are a lot of things to take into consideration. The color of your house, outdoor space, color of your bushes and flowers, and accent colors on your home are all very important.

If you plant a lot of dark foliage then any color will work but you don't want to pick a color that competes or takes the vibrancies away from your plants. However, whether you pick black or brown, you really can't go wrong.

For many contemporary homes that are gray, black mulch tends to work best. Also if you have some very bright colored flowers, the black mulch makes those colors pop even more.

As far as brown mulch goes - if your house is red or you have a red brick home, this color mulch tends to work best.

If your home has more gold and warm tones then red mulch may be the answer.

It also just goes based off of preference or what the person wants for their yard. For example, my house is a cream color but the accents on it are white and black. Therefore the black mulch looks much better than any other color. I also have a lot of dark shrubs and bright, colorful flowers so the black mulch makes those colors pop. I have never not liked the way the black mulch looks and I truly think you can't go wrong with black or brown.

3 inches of mulch is recommended when putting it down into the garden beds. This provides a good thick layer to help enforce health and growth of your plants and trees and also prevents weeds from coming through.

Mulch plays a big role with the appeal of your home and if your lawn is bright and green, it is only going to help accentuate the mulch you put down. Depending on how many garden beds you have, you can either lay it yourself or you can hire a landscaping company to do it but in the end it is definitely something I recommend doing! If you are struggling to choose your color, drive around and see what some of your neighbors have done so you can actually see the mulch in place up against plants, bushes and grass. This can sometimes help people make their decision and it's always great to see it in person rather than just guess on what the color will look like.