Resilient Landscaping

Would you support the city prohibiting the use of wood mulch on St. Armands Key to help keep our storm drains and pumps clear of debris and more reliable during flooding events?  (n=167)

Yes 75%

No 7%

Don't know/Not sure 19%

Email from City Director of Parks and Recreation to the St. Armands Residents Association:

As part of the restoration and ongoing maintenance of the St. Armands Circle Park and surrounding landscaped areas, Parks and Recreation have undertaken a series of initiatives to mitigate the use of recycled hardwood mulch in landscaped areas.

• Parks and Recreation has decreased the frequency of mulch application from twice a year to once annually following the storm season for landscape beds. Touchups may be necessary.
• Parks and Recreation removed mulching beds surrounding the City operated parking lot on Monroe Dr. and Adams Dr. and replaced the areas with sod. Please see the below aerial and photos of mulched areas that were replaced by sod.
• Parks and Recreation planted additional shrubs in landscaping beds to reduce the use of mulch. Parks and Recreation will continue to utilize this method for landscaping beds to reduce the use of mulch.
• Parks and Recreation will implement a landscaping method by using a blend of perennials and annuals to reduce the use of mulch. The earlier focus was primarily on aesthetics, resulting in a heavy use of annuals throughout the City. Mulch is utilized to support plant establishment, in addition to providing other benefits. Annuals must be replaced more often than perennials, which leads to a greater need for mulch. This landscaping strategy will employ both perennials and annuals, ensuring aesthetic appeal while reducing the amount of mulch used.
• Parks and Recreation have been utilizing a mulch binder product after installing new mulch in landscape beds to mitigate the movement of mulch during rain events. Please see the attached photos of St. Armands Circle Park on September 10, 2025, after a rain event on September 9, 2025. The mulch stayed in place and did not wash onto the sidewalks. The team did not need to blow off the sidewalks. We have conducted several test sites, and the mulch binder appears to be promising.
• Parks and Recreation will continue to research what other coastal cities are doing to mitigate the use of mulch. Currently, they seem to be interested in the mulch binder that we are using. However, there may be other products that come on the market that we can share with one another.
• Parks and Recreation will continue to research alternative products that offer the same benefits as recycled hardwood mulch (improves soil structure as it decomposes, provides good insulation from extreme temperatures (hot/cold), prevents soil erosion, conserve soil moisture, suppress weeds, and trees are not required to be cut down).

Currently, we are unable to completely eliminate mulch in landscape beds, but we can mitigate the negative impacts related to its use by reducing mulch application from twice to once annually, increasing the plant coverage in the beds and by using a mulch binding product to hold the existing mulch in place and reduce the potential for mulch washing away during heavy rain events.

I’m meeting with the team to discuss putting some information on our website to explain some of the steps Parks and Recreation has taken to mitigate mulch from washing away during heavy rain events.

We understand that we have more work to do. We just want the public to be aware of the steps that we have taken, and the ongoing efforts to mitigate the use of mulch throughout the City, especially the barrier islands, and waterfront parks.

Parks and Recreation and City Contractors are aware that debris should not be blown into storm drains. This topic will be reiterated during our regular meetings with the team. We have Crew Leaders and Supervisors that are in the field to monitor our daily operations. We will continue to monitor the City’s mowing contractor.