Best kind of mulch for winter?

[ColdBonsai]

It's September, and that means I have 2... maybe 2 and a half months before we start to get frequent hard frosts and freezes. And now I'm starting to think about my ducks and getting them in rows.

Plants I need to protect in my zone 7a: colocasia's, hardy ginger, and musa basjoo.

I think I should be looking for something that insulates, but also helps keeps the rhizomes on the dry side while they're dormat, yes?

What works the best for these kind of plants? Bark? Straw? Fallen leaves? Something else?

Are there any other precautions I should take? Like a small tarp over the insulative  layer?

I'm looking for feedback and suggestions from people who have more experience than I do. Maybe prevent myself from making a significant error.

Edited September 3, 2020 by ColdBonsai

[Manalto]

Many years ago, my horticulture professor taught me what he called "an old farmer's trick." Take a peach basket full of oak leaves (oak is good because of the rigidity; they keep their form) and turn it upside down over your plant. Of course, the dimensions of a peach basket are not adequate for some plants you want to protect. My variation on this is usually a hoop of wire fencing (chicken wire works, too) and fill up the hoop to the level you think will be effective. This gives good protection against low temperatures, and also insulates against temperature swings. Evergreen plants do not photosynthesize during the winter, so it doesn't matter if they're covered.

I'm in zone 6B Connecticut and, using this method, have successfully grown warmer-zone-rated plants for years: edible fig, aucuba, rosemary, etc. 

[RaleighNC]

A layer of leaves, covered with plastic tarp works very well for me for plants that do not like to be wet in winter. I have several beds of Hippeastrum that I treat that way, but I use clear plastic sheeting that is sold here primarily to line the floors of home crawl spaces.  You can cut it to the size you need, and if you buy a thick enough grade, it will last several winters.  I lay down a layer of dry oak leaves and pin the plastic in place with rocks.

 

[WSimpson]

The best mulch for me is a hardwood mulch that has cooked long enough , with turning by the company that produced it , to kill the weed seeds . I had a load a while back that gave me so many weeds of varieties I've never seen that I will never get that type again . I'm fighting weeds I shouldn't have to fight . 

Will