Opinions on mulch. Mulch or no mulch?

[Bartman]

NO PINK ever! 

I'm hoping the weeds won't give me too much trouble.  I do not have time for a high maintenance yard anymore.

Bart

[EagleEye]

Bart,
With your modern design, I'm suprised that you are even considering mulch. I can see you going with some sort of rock. Then when the weeds come up, kill em with chemicals.
You can get rock dyed, just like the mulch.

Steve

[Bartman]

Rocks are nice, but with all the plants going in there they wouldn't be very practical for planting.  Rocks also add just a tad too much hardness to the final design.  I have that big cement pad for the eating area and a second, separate, "sitting room" made of more block so need to balance things a bit more.

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of mulch, but unless I just pave the whole thing or just have trees poking out of the grass I don't find a lot of appealing alternatives.  The key is to keep it looking good with a balance then I'm more okay with it.

Bart

[tammie]

Bart - here are a couple of links to pre emergents available in Canada.  That's what Preen is - a pre emergent herbicide.  I use Ronstar.  I didn't read thru the links to see if you have to have a licence to buy them...
http://www.dowagro.com/ca/prod/edge.htm
http://www.nufarm.com/CA/SearchResults
Tammie

[Bartman]

Thanks Tammie.  That gives me something to go on.  I can make some phone calls and see if there is any consumer grades available.

Bart