Before/After: Cocoa Bean Shell Mulch Around Saucer Magnolia Tree

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the bags of Cocoa Bean Shell mulch that I picked in Wisconsin and mentioned that I was planning on using it in our front yard.  I got started with some of the trees in our front yard and will get the larger porch bed next.  

Below, you can see the before picture of our front yard Saucer Magnolia tree.  I mulched this tree ring with Cocoa Bean Shell mulch last year, so this is about 11 months since last mulch application.   You can see some of the flowers that are still clinging to the Magnolia - as it flowered this year after skipping a year last year.  

And...now below is the 'after' where I applied a layer of the cocoa bean shells to the tree ring:

One of the things that you have to do is to 'water in' the mulch to kind of set it up and when you do that it darkens the cocoa bean shells little bit.  After I do a few more tree rings, I'll water this stuff in to set it.

The cocoa bean shell mulch looks great from the sidewalk...and the smell?  Smells like chocolate - which is great and I like that we've brought a little bit of Luxembourg Gardens back home with us to enjoy everyday.