Have you considered a ground cover to fill in bare spots in your landscape? Ground cover will not float or blow away.

Use smaller mulch, not big chips, and make sure you have some sort of edging, even if it is about the same height as your mulch. For slopes, ground covers can help.

If you are in the south pine straw locks together and does not wash away.

Pine straw does blow, and we have had an occasional wash away.

I'm not sure if there is leaching from the rubber into the soil around the plants. Rubber mulch can be $$$$ when you're placing 5" of it on the beds. I like the idea of ground cover instead like Creeping Jenny, Purple Wintercreeper, or Pacasandra.

Thanks for the ground cover suggestions. Is there any particular groundcover that wards off termites and other pests?

No ground cover "wards off termites and other pests." And whatever you choose needs to suit both your zone and whether the exposure is sun or shade.

To suggest a suitable ground cover, we would need to know where the OP is located (nearest big city, state). My termite guy says "no mulch within a yard of the foundation, only rock". In the OP's area, the advice may be different. To reduce maintenance, select a ground cover that is relatively low growing so you can mow over it a couple of times a year. Otherwise, you'll be hand weeding, pulling out tree seedlings and such.

I love vinca for a ground cover but really we need to know where you live and some pics of the space you are talking about.

"I'm not sure if there is leaching from the rubber into the soil around the plants. Rubber mulch can be $$$$ when you're placing 5" of it on the beds"

No one who is serious about gardening would ever recommend a rubber mulch!! Leachate from this material is significant and has been shown to be highly toxic to aquatic communities, contain high levels of heavy metals and can be toxic to both plant life and humans.

Myth of Rubberized Landscapes

btw, 5 inches of mulch is too much mulch!! The thickness should be 2-3 inches maximum and with lighter, fluffier materials (like pine straw) maybe as much as 4.

We leave in NE Tennessee. What ground covering is recommended? Love Vinca, but I believe it will die down in the winter, here.

We previously had a vine type ground covering on the shady side of our home. It did the job, but was a bit invasive. Not sure what it was called. It was not an ivy. We had to have it trimmed about twice a year, and keep runners from growing into our other beds. Mowing helped keep it out of the yard.

Vinca minor is fully evergreen......even in NE Tennessee :-) But is best in at least partial shade. Too much sun bleaches out the leaf coloring and it will slow growth as well. It may also be considered invasive in some areas.

There are lots of suitable groundcovers and many of them are evergreen. I tend to use different ones in different places, picking ones that best suit the other plants growing in that location. A better local nursery should have good selection for you to choose from.

You can try several different ground covers, depending on your growing conditions and light availabilty. I have a full sun flower bed that I grow golden creeping jenny. Creeping jenny is considered invasive, so put it where you can control it. I have a spot under a cherry tree that I grow cascade stonecrop sedum because my cherry is a thirsty plant. I have pachysandra under a holly tree. I also have a border of varigated liriope along a walk way. Liriope can be invasive so make sure you have some kind of border that keeps it tame.

My neighbor's english ivy is taking over the back of my property. I can not recommend it. It is destroying our shared fence. I have gone on a crusade to remove as much of it as I can on my side of the fence. Neither of us is winning, stalemate.

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) - I looked up Vinca minor, as I was thinking about the annual Vinca flower that we love to plant. By golly, I think what we had at the other house was Vinca Minor. I just don't remember the purple flowers. As I said before, the ground covering ran along the side of our house that we seldom ventured to, and it was in full shade. Our new home will have lots of sun. There is one small section under a bay window that is North facing where we could possibly grow Vinca Minor.

phassink - I don't think I would like Creeping Jenny.

The Cascade Stonecrop Sedum is an interesting looking groundcover. Almost like a succulent. I love Autumn Joy Sedum plants and have had many in our yard. They are a pain to cut down when they die back, however. I'll give the CSS a look.

Pachysandra...that might just be the winner for me! My mother had that in her yard.

We have used both variegated and non-variegated liriope lining our beds, but have never known it to be invasive. Getting thicker every year, yes. We did have a light green, thin blade type that came up out of nowhere and delightfully blanketed a hillside where we needed cover.

Yes, we definitely do not want English ivy!!! My new neighbor has a charming 1930's Tudor with ivy growing all the way up to the top of the house.

Thank you both!

Our entire front yard is a water-wise landscape with perennial bushes and flowers. There’s also a 50 foot redwood tree. We found using redwood “gorilla hair” mulch works well and does not slide off. Redwood mulch is impervious to termites.

We use No-Float cypress. You put about half the depth down and water it. Then put the top half on. The only place that became an issue was next to the front entry where it sloped. We put down steel edging between the drive and flower bed to corral any runaways.

Talked to my husband and he said that we indeed did have little purple flowers coming up in the summer on the shady side of the house. I guess he was over there more often than me! 😀

I don't know if putting cedar chips down will help deter termites, but we had a problem with ants in a bathroom during the spring and early summer. I started putting a layer of cedar mulch underneath our regular mulch and it kept the aunts away. One spring the ants came back after I forgot to spread the cedar. Our yard guy recommended it.

For some play area in the rear yard, I am considering a low cost rug like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMaster-6-ft-x-8-ft-Green-Artificial-Grass-Rug-536696/307858886

I am quite sure it will look cheap. That is not a concern. Does it last a few years? At least 10 years would be nice. this doesn't need silica sand unlike artificial turf , right? I don't like the whole idea of silica around where my kids play

I don't like the whole idea of silica around where my kids play

Keep 'em away from beaches. They're full of the stuff.

@User If you're going for Pachysandra, get P. procumbens (Allegheny spurge) which is native to N. America rather than P. terminalis (Japanese spurge) which is not. They look much the same but Allegheny spurge is better behaved.

Thank you for the tip!!!

Have you considered a four inch high miniature fence around all your garden beds?

I thought Silica was an island off the Italian coast?

Cedar does deter pests. Anyone heard of cedar chests and cedar closets? They keep the moths and other bugs away from your clothes. The mulch would help keep the bugs away from your house, I suspect.