Gardening and Horticulture - Mulching Rosebeds

Do-It-Yourselfer's--

I know there are many different kinds of mulch. What is the best mulch (bark-type) for roses? My wife and I prefer the dark-brown colored mulch because it tends to have a richer appearance.

Thanks for your help.

MGM

i dont know what zone you are in, but here in tn/ga line- ive noticed that at the aars garden at the chattanooga choo-choo, they were using pine needles.i use pine needles also. they are free and it cleans up my yard to get them off the lawn. this may not be true in every case, but in my own experience in my yard and zone-mulch tends to break down more quickly than pine needles, can harbor weeds. unlike pine needles which seem to form a mat that will kill anything buried by them. i use bark mulch that i get free from the city . they prune all the dead limbs, broken limbs and take all the brush that people leave at the curb and recycle it for mulch free to the public. i havent noticed any extra weeds popping up in my beds from using it, but i do use the pine needles with my roses. another thing i do with pine needles(first house, still identifying shrubs)is.. when i identify a shrub in say-jan. , that i cant prune untill -march--i will bury it in a few feet of pine needles. it forms a mat that kills all the weeds and keeps the area free of weeds in a way that mulch cant. when its time to prune said shrub, i rake all the pine needles back and go into removing the suckers and all. also , the brown area around the shrub serves to remind me how big the shrubs spread can get and shows me the space i have availiable to underplant. so, to clean up an area and kill the weeds, i bury in pine needles--to kill weeds only- i use only a thin layer after ive already killed all the weeds. they were using a suprisingly thick layer of pine needles around the roses at the chattanooga choo-choo, but when i went to the biltmore estate, where they have over 2000 worth of aars roses-they used hardly any mulch at all. i hope this mini-novel helps in some way and that i have not told you a hundred things you already know. i hope all your rose do great and good for you for growing them! -pine.

Hi MGM,

I use wood mulch by the pickup loads on EVERYTHING except veggies.

For roses, whatever you like, you can use.

Pineshade, we stayed at the Chatanooga Choo-Choo a couple of years ago. It was the first plane ride for two of our grandkids. They loved the pool and all the little shops nearby--so did I. It's a very pretty city.

Gami