Ooops...meant to ask if anyone had any suggestions? I have access to lots of rocks much like these used with my pond...

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The edging question comes up often. The most natural looking edge is accomplished with a flat shovel or edging tool, and filled with mulch. Anything else is going to look manmade. The stones, unless you install them in mortar and set them flush with the lawn, will need hand trimming to remove the grass the mower misses (if not flush) and the grass that creeps between the stones (if not mortared). Brick edging will give you a tighter fit and neater edge, but it's not particularly natural looking. Plastic edging isn't particularly attractive, ditto metal edging and extruded concrete edging, and none of these look natural. Wooden or composite bender board looks a bit better, IMO, but not natural.

One solution is to grow a groundcover on the edge of the bed and mow right up to it. You can also hide a plastic, metal, or wood edging under the groundcover to reduce maintenance chores.

The problem of keeping the edge between the lawn and beds is a tricky one if you don't want to see artificial edging.

Someone posted pics awhile back (year ago? longer?) of really lovely flat-stone-in-mortar edging...does anyone remember who it was? It looked intentional, but in a good way. I'm not certain "man-made" is a problem--ANY edge is going to look man-made--the only "edges" in nature are caused by streams.

Another option is to dig a shallow, narrow trench around your beds, that allow a ower wheel to dip into. Then you can mow right up to the bed. (That may be what saypoint was describing!)

melanie

I struggle with this myself! We installed that crappy, plastic edging when we first defining planted areas. We used it because it was cheap, easy to install ourselves, and it provided a measure of "containment" for two very busy people struggling to define "gahens". We loathed it from the get-go, for precisely the reasons Saypoint outlined.

I prefer "edged" beds, but after a long week of work edging isn't my first choice of leisure activity. Springtime is also MY busiest season in my own trade and "free time" is often in short supply.

I'm presently trying to use the existing groundcovers I have to "define" the edge of plantings; following Mich's timely and humorously frank assessment of edgings. But doing so takes TIME, groundcovers don't fill in overnight. You have to be willing to weed, edge, dig/divide intil you achieve the "master plan". I have a long way to go... :)

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to go for the trench edging & groundcover. I have all kinds of groundcover that I can divide and add to the area.

The cost of putting in edging I might not even like on such a large area is daunting. I don't mind some maintenance, and free is always good, so the trench edging is going to happen. I'll post a pic when I get it done.

Thanks for your help!

Aside from the usual groundcover plants like Vinca, Pachysandra, Ajuga, etc. you can use perennials or annuals to define the edge and cut your maintenance back to once a year. Daylilies spill over and conceal the edge nicely. Creeping thyme, Iberis, creeping Sedum. I even stuck in a couple of Helichrysum (Licorice plant) left over from planting up some containers last year, and they spread very nicely on the front edge of the border.

I have lots of groundcovers to use. But Saypoint is dead on! I will also be using the divisions of Hosta to help fill in the "voids", jusiciously placed Pulmonaria, and Alchemilla divisions will nicely fill in remaining voids.

I'm sorry--I don't understand the concept of groundcovers as edging. If they grow out into the grass, isn't that "no edging"? Because I'm trying to differentiate between my garden and surrounding unkemp rural areas, I keep my garden edged--I trench with a shovel and then pack mulch into the trench. Because my garden is woodland, though, I sometimes wish for something softer. Can someone post a photo of the groundcover as edging idea so I can see how it works-I just can't visualize it.

That pond area is coming on hey?
If you edge your beds with the same stones that edge the pond there will be a connection. Don't set them in the ground for the mower to run over but make like a very low wall with your bed built up behind so that the soil in the bed is 3 - 4 inches higher than the grass. Same tecnique as the pond except you are containing soil and not water. This way you can weed whack the grass that grows up against the stones.

Unfortunately, it took me about 3 years to collect the rocks I currently have, and the budget isn't there after I found out how much rocks would be to buy. But maybe someday.

Did manage to get the trench dug and mulched today. It stopped raining for a few hours this afternoon, so it was easy to dig the trench.

It looks much cleaner than before, and now I have a definite division of where the garden ends, and the lawn starts. The grass needs to fill in a few bare spots, so I tried transplanting some of the sod I cut out. Should fill in fine with the rain we've been having lately.

{{gwi:27329}}

Here's groundcover as edging. Or more as filling in the beds completely. It's very easy to mow the grass up to the edge of the groundcover, which is thick enough to keep the grass from spreading into it.

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Thanks, saypoint--that is very lovely. The curve next to the grass still seems so "edged"--really beautiful and an improvent over the mulched edge that I have. If it worked that way for me, I know I'd be very pleased--but I doubt my ability to grow such a vast, lush, monoculture carpet of groundcover and I think it wouldn't be as effective with less.

Hi Saypoint,

This discussion is very interesting to my husband and me. We are just about done installing our sprinkler heads (it's been an all spring/summer project) and are ready to start edging all of our beds. We live on 10 acres that are comprised mostly of weeds, grasses, and native shrubs, with a few pine and other evergreen trees, and some apple trees. We are trying to keep our edging natural looking and I am intrigued by your suggestion of ground cover as edging. Your pic link doesn't work any more (at least it doesn't for me, but I'm not very computer saavy,) could you please repost it?

Thanks,

diygirl_2007

The landscape curbing industry has made some great advances in recent years which have taken many companies beyond the commercial looking gray borders that have long identified the industry. If you have someone in your area, you could see if they have any natural looks available. This may be a solution for a natural look (desired) and easy maintenance (continuously, poured-in-place concrete).

Here is a link that might be useful: Natural Stone look landscape edging

One Life to Live? Days of Our Lives? General Hospital?

PianoLady,
Love your wooden deck walkway. What kind of wood did you use? I see the different widths and lengths and think it's lovely.

Chad Livingston does sound as if he should star in "A Better Edge". His product seems too...shiny? Looks as if passed by large Boa Constrictor. Or like Jon Voight in Anaconda.

Wish there were a good answer! Love the edged trench but it doesn't do much to keep St Augustine in bounds. It throws long runners.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose blog