[Tom Hannon]

Our landscaping will begin soon. It includes three palms and a few other bushes for ground cover. My question is- do we go with the small rocks or wood chips? The wood chips are $1300 less than the rocks and it is hard to justify the cost difference. Is it worth the extra $$$ to go with rocks? I hear the wood chips fade away and get blown by a strong wind. Rocks are forever. Which way do we go.

[golfnut]

We paid $900 for river rock in all our beds, which included removing the wood chips and putting down weed barrier, love the river rock......gn

[obxgal]

My neighbor has them and in the past 3 years has redone them twice. Plus every time it rains they usually end up in our driveway or out in the street. Not to mention they look pretty sad when the sun bleaches them out.

We went with the rock because over time I think it's cheaper, plus I hate the additional work.

[kb8tpw]

I like my mulch, been down almost a year. Having said that, - - grass is creeping into them and I spent tonight scooting around on my butt cutting it back. The white root system of the zoysia is going back into the mulch. All of this leads me to consider reevaluating. Neighbors up the street have some huge stones about 10-12 inch diameter around theirs. Just finished - I have never seen before and want to go up and talk to them as they have a natural look, which is what drove me to mulch. They still have mulch but where most folks use curbing they have the stones around the beds. Very sharp.

[johnfarr]

I have rock in front and mulch in back. Both have issues:

Wood chips: weeds are easy to pull - and not many get rooted. I go around about once a week and pull these weeds. We have concrete curbing which makes it difficult for grasses with runners to get over that. If they try - ROUNDUP! Wood chips provide compost and as they break down you have to renew about 2 - 3 times a year. Each time you put it down the new chips make it look great. I prune the bushes and cover with chips - no raking! Thet can blow around. If my mower hits a chip - no problem! but if it hits a landscape roch - not so good. Mulch is where Palmetto bugs live, so I spray 3times a year.

Stone (with weed barrier underneath): You can pick any color to match your landscape plan. Weeds get rooted and it is a fight to pull them. I don't like to use too much ROUNDUP as I'm afraid it may bother the nearby bushes and trees. leaves and those long skinny leaves from palm fronds really accumulate and look bad. The leaf blower only removes part of it and the rest hooks into the rock. Either ignore it or pick them out one at a time. No bugs live there.

Rubber mulch: my neighbor has that. They paint recycled tire chips any color you want. It looks like stone, but is lighter. Can blow around on a windy day. It smelled like a tire store outside when they first put it down, but that went away in about 6 months. Same cosmetic problems as rock.

Considering the lower price of wood chips I'd go with them. Although the coloring is limited, it is good for the plants and it looks as good as anything else.

[champion6]

Thanks, johnfarr. Very descriptive comparison!

[JohnN]

John Farr has it right on,
there are other posts on this topic if you do a search.

I've got wood mulch, but I like spending time in the yard.
I refresh the mulch twice a year,
wood is cooler in summer, warmer in winter for cover near the plants,
it retains moisture better, and decomposes into food,

it IS the better way to go, in my opinion,

that said,,, rock (or rubber ) is once and done,
if you don't want to fool with it all.