Dec 15 2003
A new design element for gardens and landscapes is also making inroads in family and amusement parks: mulch colored with Bayscape® colored pigments.
“The wood chips can not only be used to as a colorful frame for flower beds, trees, lawns, patios and walkways, they are also ideally suited for creating large-area color designs.
In the “Mexico” section of our park, we use the chips in shades of red and yellow to recreate the mood of the Central American landscape,” explains Veit Karwei of Hansa Park in Sierksdorf, Germany. “What I like about the material is that it can be used even during the dreary winter months to set bright, colorful accents that don’t come across as gaudy and artificial,” says Michael Jost of Phantasialand in Brühl, Germany.
Warner Brothers Movie World in Bottrop-Kirchhellen, Germany, found the mulch was useful for recreating the park’s logo in a flower bed at the main entrance.
The mulch chips are made from sustainably managed indigenous conifers. Behind the Bayscape® colored pigments manufactured by Bayer Chemicals AG are iron oxides.
These are not artificial chemical compounds but naturally occurring substances which literally lie at our feet, comprising on average 5 % of the Earth’s crust. “We took the variety of colors naturally occurring in iron oxides as an example. Our art lies solely in controlling the amount of bound water, the degree of oxidation of the iron and the mixing ratios during production to obtain pigments in a variety of colors,” explains Klaus Novak of Bayer Chemicals.
When used properly – as in the case of mulch – iron oxide pigments are ecologically safe for humans, animals, soil and groundwater. They are available in the colors dark red, red, yellow, orange, brown and black.
Beyond the purely decorative aspect, the colored wood chips have additional advantages benefiting the gardener and, above all, the plants. They suppress weed growth, store moisture and provide insulation against heat and cold, which protects young shoots, for example.
The colored wood chips are available from most major home improvement and garden centers in 70 L plastic bags. Finer chips are also available for use in flower pots and indoor planters. Additional information about decorative mulch is available on the Internet at www.bayscape.de.