Hear hear!! Clap clap!! Well said.

My wife Linda and I are adding are claps and hear/hears too lindac's......:)

Paul from Alabama

Just want to add that cocoa hulls are poisonous to dogs. They are attracted to the chocolate smell.

Can't tell you how incredibly ugly Wendy's orange (really. orange) mulch is with the purple/red foliage of Nandinas all winter long....

I read somewhere that the British scratch their heads over Americans' love affairs with colored mulches. Please! Sound the trumpets! Natural mulches only!!!!

Yes!!!

The danger to dogs from cocoa bean hull mulch has been overrated by a few.
If you have a dog that might eat good smelling mulch, keep your eye on the dog until after a few rains and the smell disappears.
Pine bark or hardwood chips make a wonderful mulch.....undyed!
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: cocoa bean hulls and dogs.

Funny thing is, I meant to post this to the thread titled "Totally out of my depth" or something similar. Many people were recommending mulch for the weeds, and I had a vision of the entire situation going completely to the dogs: red mulch oceans and red mulch volcanos. Eggggggggggggggggggggggggggg! When I see them in expensive condo properties, or Wendy's I want to write a letter to management.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the responses, but normally I wouldn't have posted an observation exactly like this.

Sort of OT...

Three years ago we foolishly replaced our cedar mulch with gravel mulch...I was 8 months pregnant and DH thought it would be maintenance free...yeah right.

This spring all the gravel was painstakingly removed. Two days ago we had 4 yards of premium hardwood mulch dumped in our driveway.

I almost started crying with happiness!

Hi Linda,

Yes, I've seen similar articles about the toxicity of cocoa mulch to dogs, but I still try to keep my yard as free of toxins as possible for my Lucy, even if the risk is low.

And have you given similar attention to what you grow? many many plants are poisionous to dogs when ingested. Plants like lily of the valley, other lilies, delphinium, yew, onions, grapes, etc etc.
The amount of mulch your dog would have to eat to be toxic is improbably...something like about a cup of mulch for a 10 pound dog. That's a lot of cocoa bean hulls to eat without throwing up!!
But frankly I have so much yard, I can't afford coco bean mulch!
Linda C

I watch for poisonous plants, too, Linda, don't worry. I moved my mountain laurel, foxglove, rhodies etc. to the front, and quit spraying roses and laying down lawn chemicals, too. I doubt anything would happen, she's a pretty good dog, but you never know. I almost lost a cat that chewed on a stargazer lily in a bouquet, which is something she had not done before, and I'd really rather be safe than sorry, you know?

Plus, cocoa mulch smells so good, I feel like snacking on various chocolatey treats. That's not a great thing to experience with any kind of frequency.