I bought the house brand new from the builder three years back and since then I did not do anything to the plant beds other than moving the pine straws that fell from the pine trees in the lawn to these beds.
But now I am getting interested to keep these beds nice and planting flowers/bushes/small trees.
I am in South Carolina and is it worth it to mulch the plant beds early September or is it prudent to wait until early Spring (say March or April) next year?
I am planning to put pine straw mulch around the couple of pine trees and a palm tree [Last three attached pictures]. and other type of mulch [not decided on the type but debating between Black vs Brown vs Composite] around the house as shown in the first six attached pictures.
I would go for all pine straw but my wife wants different type of mulch at least surrounding the house, since the neighbors are not using pine straws as mulch.
Would it look fine to have pine straw in some areas and different type of Mulch in other areas?
I have hard time deciding the type of mulch that I should go for - Black vs Brown vs Composite vs Brown [
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-.../N-5yc1vZbx4a]
Please advise what type of mulch I can go far considering that they are good for plants/small trees/bushes etc., and at the same time yard looks good and stay away from fire or termites (though I have termite warranty and insurance etc.,).