Express Mulching & Soil in Denver used to bring most of their mulch—Cedar Mulch—from the U.S. West Coast by rail car to Colorado until there was talk of a shortage this year and it was projected that supply would run out of cedar mulch by May. 

Colorado Green talked with Nick Holladay, president and founder, who over the past seven years has demonstrated his entrepreneurial success as someone who thinks out of the box, when he and partner, Macy Gibson, created their own blower company in the Denver market. Now Holladay was looking for an alternative source for mulch to run through those blowers.  

Local and sustainable 

Holladay has found a local source of mulch that is sustainable and reliably available. Express Mulching now uses tree mulch from multiple Denver-area landscape companies. The company uses only natural, untreated tree sources for its mulch—wood that has been chipped by landscape companies or logs from trees that needed to be downed or required severe pruning.  

Express Mulching has the equipment to turn most any tree material they get from landscape companies into mulch. “We have tub grinders that can handle 15-inch logs,” explains Holladay. “Our mulch is local and sustainable, never kiln dried. We don’t recommend using kiln-dried wood for landscape mulch.” Express Mulching uses only 100% non-kiln-dried wood. 

There’s a high cost to transporting mulch from the west coast and a negative environmental impact. “Our mulch is less costly, and customers can save 20-30% and feel good about reducing their carbon footprint by keeping business local.” 

Educating others 

“We must educate the market about our mulch. Some believe cedar mulch is better,” comments Holladay. “What is needed is high quality wood mulch that decomposes, helps the soil and conserves water. That’s what we have, with the bonus of being locally sourced.” He also says some of his landscaping customers have had trouble getting mulch and they have been filling the gap using Express Mulching products. And customers can choose their color. Holladay claims their mulch holds color just as well as cedar, if not better. 

Constant supply 

Many trees were impacted by the recent storms we endured this spring, and Express Mulching still has raw material coming in from landscape contractors. There is no shortage for Express Mulching, and they continue to offer solutions for mulch supply even as shortages on out-of-state mulch are still on the rise.  

This article appeared in Colorado Green magazine, Sept./Oct., 2022 issue.