I like pinestraw better but that's a personal choice. For the pansies, you might use pine bark nuggets because it's a little tricky to straw pansy beds.

I use hardwood mulch. I have for years. I refresh it once or twice a year.

Some of the typical warnings (founded or otherwise) would be termites (keep mulch a foot or more away from buildings), nitrogen tie-up (not really credible, unless the mulch is in very small pieces), damage from artillery fungus (a problem in some areas, not in others). There have been some lawsuits regarding vehicle damage from artillery fungus spores. This unobtrusive fungus can shoot its sticky spores up to 6 feet. It will NOT be removed from cars, siding, or anything else by any known cleaning agent!!!!

I've used hardwood mulch forever, with no problems. It lasts much longer than pinestraw.

I too use hardwood mulch for most all my beds although, I like the triple ground Cyprus the best but, it is hard to find since Florida has had so many Hurricanes. The triple ground and double ground Cyprus is soft enough for bare feet and seems to stay put better than the other types I have used in the past. It also lasts much longer, up to 3 years even.

There are two general uses of mulch; soil conditioning and top dressing.

Pine does not break down well so is of little use as a conditioner. However, for top dressing LL Pine straw seems optimal for appearance and price.

For soil conditioning I use either peat moss or hardwood mulch. The peat moss seems best for acid-loving shrubs like Gardenias and Azaleas. I like hardwood mulch for most other things as it breaks down into a nice rich, black topsoil in about 1 to 1-1/2 years.