"Willow" writes:
putting some white gravel down as mulch... so I guess if I did that the
black mondo grass would look ok. Does putting gravel down as mulch improve
or damage the soil at all? I'm in Perth so the "soil" is grey sand & is
already fairly water repellant.

Ordinary mondo looks nice, even in shade, and it is quite drought
tolerant. Here in Sydney I've seen it growing in full Summer sun in
obviously unwatered gardens, and while it does brown off, it manages to
rejuvenate when the weather cools.

I don't know much about stone mulch. But I'd expect it would reduce
moisture loss, and would moderate the temperature swing of the soil by
interposing a large thermal mass between the soil and the air. After
watching Quantum on ABC tonight, I'll add that neither will it fuel spot
fires during a bushfire! (Apparently, many homes in Canberra were lost
when embers set fire to garden mulch and the mulch channelled the flames
around the yard and right up to the house.) On last Friday's Burkes
Backyard Don spread white pebbles on top of some potting mix, so I guess
you can take that as an endorsement. :-)
--
John Savage (for email, replace "ks" with "k" and delete "n")