For many years I had no source of good inexpensive mulch and never enough home-made compost so once or twice a year I mixed my compost with sawdust and shavings (likely a mix of hard and soft woods) from a local mill. I used our cement mixer to more easily and thoroughly mix this and added various other ingredients depending on what was available such as old manure, leftover spent potting soil, and whatever type of nitrogen rich supplement I had such as blood meal or various seed meals. I also always used alfalfa pellets which dissolve fairly quickly in water in the cement mixer and I believe helped to color the sawdust. I always used this as mulch, never mixed it with soil. It was a good way to extend and more evenly apply my meager supply of compost and the finished product looked better than pale sawdust. I found that if I didn't use it right away the pile would quickly start to heat and sometimes I left it awhile before using. However used as mulch there were no negatives and it greatly improved my soil over the years. You may find the addition of compost to the mulch will cause it to decompose faster but that IMO is not a drawback.

It all depends on what you want to accomplish. Any hardwood mulch will break down (compost) quicker than any bark mulch. The bigger coarser pine bark mulches last the longest. If your bushes are mature (full sized and blooming) then you don't need to do anything special - just add some compost or mulch every year to help keep the area moist and provide a little nutrients to the root zone. If you just planted them and they are still filling out then you need to mulch more, feed more, water more. They even have fake mulch, made of old rubber tires or whatever (I wouldn't use it in my yard but some people love it). The idea is to have a barrier around the bushes that helps keep things moist but inhibits weeds. If you want to replace it every year with fresh stuff then I'd go with hardwood - any hardwood mulch. If you want to replace it every couple of years then I would go with some of the pine bark fines or triple shredded pine bark or pine straw. If you want to replace it after like 5 years then I would go with the bigger chunks of pine or redwood bark. If you want to match what was being used then I would scoop a handful up and take it with me to the store and see which type looks the closest.

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.

We have both porcelain and wood in our house. I love them both. We have porcelain tile in the kitchen, bathroom, foyer, and the traffic areas, and engineered wood in the living, dining, and family rooms. Our through body gray porcelain doesn't show the dirt and is easily cleaned. Our wood floor does not have a lot of texture and our footprints with bare feet and our dogs spots from chewing her feet show up in the light. It's an easy wipe down, though, but it really shows the dirt sooner. About our feet, my husband really has foot pain with the porcelain when he's in the kitchen. I, on the other hand, do not have a problem. He never had trouble with the vinyl floor we had before, so it must be the tile. Truthfully, we really like both. In mho, I think that porcelain should look like porcelain if you have it. Trying to similuate another product doesn't do it for me. If you want the porcelain, there are plenty of beautiful kinds to choose from. I don't like the little squares of wood or floating floors that look like tile either. I say choose your material than choose something beautiful that truly represents the material. We have both porcelain and wood in our house. I love them both. We have porcelain tile in the kitchen, bathroom, foyer, and the traffic areas, and engineered wood in the living, dining, and family rooms. Our through body gray porcelain doesn't show the dirt and is easily cleaned. Our wood floor does not have a lot of texture and our footprints with bare feet and our dogs spots from chewing her feet show up in the light. It's an easy wipe down, though, but it really shows the dirt sooner. About our feet, my husband really has foot pain with the porcelain when he's in the kitchen. I, on the other hand, do not have a problem. He never had trouble with the vinyl floor we had before, so it must be the tile. Truthfully, we really like both. In mho, I think that porcelain should look like porcelain if you have it. Trying to similuate another product doesn't do it for me. If you want the porcelain, there are plenty of beautiful kinds to choose from. I don't like the little squares of wood or floating floors that look like tile either. I say choose your material than choose something beautiful that truly represents the material.