Variety and divisions in a landscape, particularly in a garden, are elements of landscape design that are often observed.
While variety enhances the overall appearance of the space to avoid too much simplicity, divisions are used to separate objects to make the space more organized.
A landscape without these two can look disorganized, discorded and imbalanced.
Think of it like an orchestra that doesn’t have great rhythm; it will not be pleasant to the ears.
And you would not want the same thing happening to your garden.
While there are various ways and steps that can be done to achieve variety and division for the unity of all the landscape elements, there is one easy step that you can do – landscape edging.
What is Landscape Edging?
You have planted your flowering plants and arranged the pots on a raised garden bed. You thought you’re done landscaping but something is amiss.
There is a high chance that you forgot about landscape borders.
Landscape edging or sometimes called landscape border is a design element of landscaping that is primarily used to define and accentuate edges of a specific space. You can somehow liken it to a property fence. It serves as markers or linings to the landscape.
By its very definition, landscape edging is a process that you do in your garden to clearly define varied areas.
Most of the time, this border is used to accentuate and differentiate your flower beds from your lawn or other areas of the whole space.
Likewise, it also gives your landscape a better curb appeal. There are various ways you can play around with the design of your garden with landscape edges.
Firstly, you can choose from various materials from rocks to bricks. Without these edges or borders, your garden may look uninteresting and uninspired.
Aside from its beautifying use, edging also has a very important function. Unknowingly to some, it functions like tree roots.
Not because it absorbs water but because it prevents your soil from eroding or spilling to areas you don’t want it appearing. Furthermore, it also prevents unwanted grasses or overgrown plants from crossing other areas of your space.
With all of these functions of landscape edging, gardening seems to be more fun and less demanding from frequent maintenance.
Steps in Landscape Edging
Before dipping your feet in installing or building edges, consider these steps.
1. Know Your Space and Garden Theme.
This step should always be the first thing that you should do. Before proceeding to the successive steps, you have to accomplish a defined and very clear idea of your own landscape first.
Knowing your space is important because it will be the basis of the design and materials you will be using. Basically, you can’t use materials that will be too big or too small in the space. Likewise, you can’t design edges that will be in total contrast of your garden theme.
A specific step that is incorporated here is measuring your whole landscape and flower or garden beds where the edging for landscape will be placed. This will help you avoid unnecessary spending for materials and delays in installing or building.
2. Find Online References.
Cliché as it may sound but there is nothing original in this world. What you are thinking right now has been thought of by other people from different generations and places. However, this does not have to stop you from adding your own takes.
Surfing and searching on Instagram, Pinterest, and search engines will give you thousands of inspirations to choose from. You don’t have to copy every little detail that you see. These photos will just serve as an inspiration for you. This
This step can also help you avoid mishaps and missteps that were encountered by other landscapers before.
3. Choose Primary Material.
The base material that you will be using is very crucial in the whole process of landscape edging. If you already have a garden theme, this may help you choose the right material for your space.
- Wood. If you are going for a naturalistic, organic, and earthy look, wood would be your best choice. Timber wood is one of the most popular choices for this material. Using wood can be cheaper than other materials but maintenance is a little bit tricky. Wood easily rots if continuously exposed to weather disturbances.
- Bricks. Bricks are usually used as edges if you have a straight or linear garden design. These materials can be easily found in landscape stores but can be more expensive than others.
- Stones. Like bricks, sourcing out stones would not be a problem for you. The best advantage that using stone landscape edging can give you is options. From the kinds and colors of stones alone, you already have so many choices.
- Concrete. If you are the type of person who chooses simplicity and practicality, concrete is the material to take. Making use of concrete in landscape edging is fairly easy and fast. Also, it won’t demand much attention in terms of maintenance.
- Customizable. Apart from the traditional materials used for the garden bed edges, there are more options that you can find at home or in your local stores. Here, you can recycle objects that you won’t be needing anymore. Some of these include rubbers from play balls and excess tiles from your flooring.
Add some good ole fences for your edging.
4. Designing and Budgeting.
Designing and budgeting should go hand in hand with choosing the primary materials. Since the materials can or cannot be flexible enough, your design should take this into consideration. The design will depend on your vision and taste. More importantly, costs will always be a huge factor in this whole process.
5. Finding a Supplier and Landscaping Edges.
Finding the best supplier for your material can either go north or go south. If you happen to know where to look, this will just be a cakewalk. But you really don’t have to stress out because Big Easy Landscaping can help you with the whole process. Just tell us your vision and we’ll be the one to build it for you!
It’s easy, right? You are most likely ready to have the coolest landscaping edge in the neighborhood!
To know more about the best landscaping tips, see our latest blogs below.
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