Commercially Prepared Mulch

[sheepdog 10]

Has anyone used any of that red colored mulch you can purchase in big bags at most hardware stores and other various chain stores like Walmart, etc. It appears to be mostly shredded bark and wood, and then is dyed in some way in various colors, like black or red. I've used it now in several different locations and I'm a little concerned about the results. I can't prove it of course, but I think it's killed a few bushes and trees for me. I had 2 purple leaf sand cherry bushes in the frount yard that I used it on 2 years ago, and they have just about died completely out. They were well established plants, had been planted 5-6 years before I used the red mulch on them. Now there are only a couple of spindly sprouts where the trees used to be. One thing that it certainly didn't seem to hurt was the Naked Lady Lillies I had planted in a circle around the purple leaf trees. It was a really showy looking planting, with the pretty pink blooms and the purple folage on the trees, so I'm not happy the trees died out on me. The Naked Ladies did fantastic this year, they are on of the few things that I had a really good growing season on. For those of you not familiar with this rather unique plant, they send up green folage, early in the spring, about the same time as daffodils, and after several weeks the greenery dies out and dissapears. You'd never even know they'd been there. Then suddenly, almost magicly, in August or September, they shoot up a stem only, no leaves at all, that has a beautiful pink flower. I'm going to post a couple pictures of this years blooms, they did spectacular this year. Too bad I have all those dead sticks in the middle of the patch.