In case you wanted more convincing on the gravel issue, here's a photo of my neighbor's front yard (they'll kill me if they see it here). The pale crushed rock is nice looking when you pick up a piece; it looks almost white in the sun of the west facing yard. The pinyon trees survive but don't look particularly happy. I wonder if they are getting heat stress or inadequate water for the heat. The debris underneath is a good example of what I mean by gravel being like white carpet, everything stands out. Maybe they should vacuum weekly, but removing that organic mulch might undermine the health of the trees even more as it removes any organic material decomposing under them and removes a moisture barrier (and who has time to vacuum their YARD weekly?).
Yeah, thats been one of my main concerns about putting any gravel or tumbled glass down, it looks nice at first, but come fall or year round even depending on what you have growing over it, it starts to look not so nice. The best use for hard mulch would be hardscape edgeing, in annual beds, or around xeriscape perennials...not under trees or hedges taller than 3 feet. Also what needs to be factored in is the falling radius of the dead stuff.
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