Mulch With Style

To accessorize your container garden, banish the bark and add bling.

By Kate Karam
photography: Tom McWilliam
Cottage Living Magazine

Great pot? Check. Healthy, happy plant? Got it. What’s missing? An eco-chic layer of water-saving mulch to top-dress all that bare soil. Sure, you could toss on a few handfuls of shredded or chunky bark, but really, how 1980s is that? This season, cap off your pots and window boxes with a hardworking mulch that matches the mood of your plantings. Think of it as pearls on a little black dress.

Tumbled seashells

With their carved shapes, myriad sizes, and soft, warm colors, seashells are a no-brainer for coastal landscapes but also bring a bit of the beach to even the most landlocked gardens.

Why it works

The right mulch can connect the plant to its container. Tumbled shells like this beach ivory marry the oversize clamshell to its dune grass planting, but any shells (found or bought) would do.

Best combos

Try breezy plants like Northern sea oats, lilyturf, Japanese blood grass, or feather grass.

Crushed glass

Shimmering chips of recycled glass—edges smoothed for safety— come in many sizes and a rainbow of colors.

Why it works
Mixing-and-matching the tones of your mulch to the hue of your container adds visual punch. We used Sunshine mix and Blue and Clear Crystal chips to complement our yellow pot.

Best combos
We like modern, clean-lined containers and plants like this red-leafed cordyline or bamboo, palms, or flax.











Pinecones

Pinecones in varying sizes and shapes have a put-there-by-nature look. They decompose quickly and require a second mulching later in the season.

Why it works
An old hollowed-out tree stump or a container that blends with nature, such as our pot made of cork, looks at home with this mulch.

Best combos
Match rustic and faux bois (imitation wood) containers with shade-loving plants, woodsy plants like toad lily and lady’s mantle, or ferns.

**Two Blonds idea: You can also use the balls from a Sweetgum tree!! They are a great deterrent to kitties who like to play in your plants.

Glass marbles


These marbles, made from recycled glass, add a smooth touch to any planting.

Why it works
Matching the shade of the plant to the color of the mulch finishes the look. Cool, sleek, and modern, silver- and gray-leafed plants are sophisticated spiking above or spilling over watery aqua-toned marbles.

Best combos
Pair pale-colored containers with silvery blue-gray plants like the blue oat grass and Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ shown here.








Succulents

In addition to the pretty factor, living mulches, such as succulents, keep the roots of other plants cool by providing tightly knit shade on the soil’s surface.

Why it works
Function meets style—both this copper beech tree and the hens and chicks underneath have pale green leaves kissed with red.

Best combos
Succulents love containers that hold the heat (like metal tubs). Other plants that like it on the dry side: rosemary, salvia, moss, and thyme.