Flower bed borders give flower beds the perfect polished look, that any gardener aims for. They add to a garden's style and landscaping. Flower bed edging not only provides the flower beds with good visual appeal, but they also provide for easy maintenance and the cutting down of mowing time. Flower bed edging also keeps grass from occupying the flower garden soil. Flower bed edging ideas know no boundaries and can be as innovative and funky as your imagination lets them be. Yet, I present some popular landscaping ideas for your flower beds, in the paragraphs given below. These landscaping ideas are fairly simple and even an amateur gardener can successfully experiment with them.
Plant Edging
The most obvious and also the most traditional way of edging your flower beds, is by using plants. These plants can be flowering plants, perennial herbs, shrubs or even small trees. Plant borders should be large enough to catch the eye, yet small enough to not require heavy maintenance. While wide plant borders look good with flower beds with tall flowering, layering and variations in their shapes give the garden a nice overall look. Plant flower bed borders with tall foliage, also provide for privacy and can be used near garden benches. Asters, geraniums, chrysanthemums, day lilies, tulips and other flowers make for bright flower bed edging material. Herbs like sage, keep the cats away from your flowers and give the perfect hedge-like flowerbed borders. While mixed herbs and shrubs look good as borders, climbing vegetation like clematis and ivy also give a good feel.
Mowing Strip
Mowing strips are the ultimate solutions for all those who have less time to spend on gardening. Mowing strips are flat surfaces surrounding the flower beds, that make mowing and maintaining the bed and lawn easier. Brick mowing strips can be made by almost fully burying the bricks, just outside the flower bed. Only one side of the bricks should be showing outside, and all the bricks should be aligned properly with no spaces in between. Brick paver edging strips can be used to hold all the bricks in shape.
Rock Lining
If you do not wish to do any extra work and yet require an effective flower bed border, rock linings are your sure answers. Lining the flower beds with rocks and boulders, in natural shapes and sizes, can actually do the trick for you. It does not require any laying and just needs someone to arrange the rocks in the required stylized shapes. Rock linings look natural and classic when the flowers in the garden are bright and tall. There is a great opportunity for creativity when working with rocks, as one can easily mix and match the sizes and shapes to create patterns like waves, loops and scallops.
Eccentric Edgings
Are you eccentric enough to think differently? Try the recycled bottle edging. Collect bottles, of preferably the same sizes and shapes. Bury them either neck down or bottom down (as you like), consistently, throughout the flower bed perimeter. You'd be amazed at how beautiful this seemingly nonsensical idea looks, once the whole perimeter is completely lined. Similar things can be tried with large seashells. Try scallops or shells, the outcome is sure to be interesting and different. Don't lay constraints on your imagination. Try out new eccentric ideas on a small patch, carry them on to your garden only when the testing result is appealing. Try colored pebbles, I am sure they'd look good too.
Edging with Cobblestone
Cobblestones remind me of old castles. They remind me of horse hoofs making clocking sound on old cobbled roads. Nostalgia aside, cobblestones give a very rugged look to the flower bed edging. They look classy and are easier to keep clean as well. Flowerbed edgings with cobblestones, are very popular, as they require no extra gardening skills like the plant edgings do. The only drawback is that they are very difficult to lay down.
Terracotta Tile Edging Idea
Terracotta tiles (that come in different colors) can be cut in different decorative shapes and sizes. These are then partially buried near the end of the flower bed to form your perfect flower bed landscaping idea. Terracotta tiles cut down on edging and trimming chores, provide an artistic opportunity and look extremely decorative in your flower garden. Let your imagination run loose and come up with new and innovative designs for using them. Then, even plain old terracotta will make your garden look surreal, right out of a fairy tale.
Edging with Diagonal Brick
The raw material for this type of edging is mainly bricks. Even old mismatched bricks can be used to look really nice if arranged well, leaning in one direction, to give a domino effect. Though red bricks give a classic effect, even colored ones can be used to customize your flower bed edging. The best advantage of this type of edging is that it is very good to let off the excess water in the flower bed, and it is very easy to lay down as well.
Edging Made of Cast Concrete
Cast concrete edgings give a very neat and clean look to the flowerbed, and this can be seen in the photo given at the top of the article. Not only do they give the flower bed a more professional look, the raised concrete edging platforms provide for good water vents for raised flower beds. Concrete edgings are difficult and messy to construct, but the task can be made a whole lot easier if an expert is hired to make them. They can be made in various shapes and sizes, customized to suit your flower garden.
Flower Bed Edgings Using Flagstones
The space between the lawn and the flowerbed can be impeccably separated using a flagstone or bluestone stacking. Not only are they a secure form of edging, but they also provide an English country feel to your flower garden. Since the flagstone rocks are aligned loosely, they provide for water let outs as well. Flagstone linings make mowing easier.
There are many more flower bed edging ideas that you can try in order to adorn your garden as well as the exteriors of your house. Make your flower bed the most talked of gossip in your neighborhood. The above mentioned ideas, can materialize in some admirable flower bed borders that complement your flower bed design. Do try them, they do not require as much effort as you think. More importantly, just imagine how jealous your next door neighbor will be, when she actually spends twice as much time in her flower garden, yet yours is the more enviably talked about one.
