Landscape Edging Adds to Your Landscapes Ease of Maintenance and Beauty

Landscape edging is a part of the landscape design. Landscape edging increases the perception of the landscape that has been created. Landscape edging for car parking curbs, mower edges, and playground edging are the usual landscape designs. These are generally made to give a definite shape to the man-made landscape constructions.

Flashy colors draw attention to the landscape edging while the option of comforting colors are pleasant to the eye instead of being a focal point. Take care while choosing the right landscape edging colors. The texture of the edging is also given a special attention. Coarse, medium or fine could be used to describe texture but so could smooth, rough, glossy or dull.

Landscape edgings like Metal edging, Plastic edging, bricks, pavers, railroad ties, wood and wood timbers are the generally used materials for landscape edging. A custom-fit, seamless concrete border for landscaping, trees and flowerbeds gives an outline to the landscape and makes it eye-catching. But before installing material one should keep in mind few things like flexibility, longevity, faster and easier installation. Concrete outlasts metal, wood and plastic and also allows for curves and contours to fit the demands of modern landscaping designs.

Landscape edging gives a definite lining to the landscape design. As line is related to the eye, movement or flow, the concept and creation of line depends upon the purpose of the design and existing patterns. In the overall landscape, line is inferred by bed arrangement and the way these beds fit or flow together by landscape edging. These lines are smooth, graceful or gentle and create a relaxing, progressive, moving and natural feeling. The form of the landscape is also defined by landscape edging. As form is discussed in terms of individual plant growth habits or in planting arrangement in a landscape, landscape edging arranges the plants in the landscape. The scale or the size of the landscape edging in relation to the surroundings refers to definite measurements.

Landscape edging also involves visual observation toward a landscape at the vanishing point between radial or approaching lines. landscape edging could also be used to direct traffic in a garden area. Guidance of a view toward commercial, aesthetic or cultural value may attract the eye of the unaware without conscious effort.

The aesthetic value of landscape edging is also very high. The quality of the material can be anything but if the relation is maintained with the theme of the landscape, an artistic appeal is formed. The materials can be based on the pathways, plants or the other things that it edges. For example, clay edging can be perfect with the brick pathway and wood edging can go with the water bodies.

Landscape edging gives the finishing touch to the landscape design. It defines the main bodies that make a landscape. Before designing the landscape one must plan the edging as well. It is also one of the important elements of the art in landscape designing.

Garden Edging Techniques - Creating Beautiful Landscape Designs With Edging

Garden edging is a great way to make your landscape designs pop. You can achieve many clean and decorative looks with various edging techniques. Garden edging will open up a world of landscape design opportunities in your yard because you can choose from a multitude of designs, edging materials, and edging techniques.

If you are not familiar with edging, it is a term used to describe a landscaping technique used to create "edges" around various landscape elements. You can place an edge around trees, shrubs, flowers, and hardscape elements like light posts and mailboxes. Creating an edge around elements in a landscape gives them a clean look and sets them apart from other elements in the yard.

Depending on the style you want to achieve with this technique you might want to choose certain materials over others. For example, cement can give a more modern look and brick can be used to create a more traditional look. Stone and brick are the easiest materials for homeowners to work with on their own. To begin you can try any one of these simple but beautiful techniques that use stone and brick.

Boulder Technique -- This is a very simple landscaping technique to start with. All you need are large sized rocks. Anywhere from 8 inches to a foot in height. Then you place them around your selected garden bed. You can use rocks that slightly vary in shape and color. This technique gives gardens an organic look.

Flagstone Technique -- Flagstone is a popular stone to use in landscapes. It has a distinctive look that most people recognize--a flat, wide surface with uneven edges. Because it is so flat it should be placed in small stacks to give it height. To create a simple edging with flagstone, take small stacks of the stone and place them side-by-side around a garden bed.

Diagonal Brick -- This landscaping idea gives a beautiful old-world look to landscapes. You can create the diagonal brick look by building a small trench around a select garden bed (minding plant roots, of course). Then, set your bricks in the trench so that they are laying on top of each other at a diagonal angle. Fill the trench back up so that most of each brick is covered. When you are done it should look like there are little pyramids of brick sticking out of the ground in a row.

You can create garden edging on your own or you can consult with a residential landscape designer who can create edging designs for you. However, creating your own beautiful edging only requires that you have an eye for detail, a steady hand, and a few materials. You can literally edge with anything that inspires you (sea shells, old bottles, etc.), but some traditional garden edging materials include wood, metal, brick, stone, cement, plastic, and aluminum. You can find pre-made edging materials at your local home improvement store that can easily be put together. You can also buy brick or any variety of stone to create you edging. This is most common. Professional landscape designers typically create cement edges but you can also buy pre-cast cement or faux cement edges that are easy to put together.

Landscape Edging Ideas - Professional Landscaping Software

Landscaping Ideas and Software for Your Garden

The garden of the house reflects homeowner's personality thus a refreshing garden with stunning design landscape will make them the most unique, admired and talked-about in their neighborhood. Likewise, landscaping your own beautiful garden could be the most rewarding and enjoyable thing you'll ever do.

Flower gardens, eye catching landscapes and outdoor areas that please the senses and offer a wonderful escape from the daily pressures of life can be enhanced. How? To enhance your garden, landscape designs should follow certain principles and rules to meet your desire. landscape design must include walls, sitting areas, focal points, ornaments, paths and right plants themselves. Innovation in keeping the garden stylish and how to use the whole landscape are the keys. Today landscapes have changed into extraordinary feats and all in new level.

Whether you desire to create either as small or large scale landscape design you must take the time to plan ahead since this is the starting point to obtain a successfully landscaped yard you've always wanted. It should incorporate artistic elements with principles of designs such as uniqueness, balance, transition, proportion, rhythm, repetition and simplicity. Proper planning, analysis and exploiting landscape ideas such as landscape edging idea and landscaping ideas for slopes lead into functional, harmonious and aesthetically pleasant outdoor living area.

Landscape planning deals with conceptual, scientific and design approaches that emphasize ecological understanding and multi-disciplinary approach to analysis, planning and design. Landscaping ideas should be embraced in landscaping plan as this is a combination of art and science synchronizes aesthetically for better outcomes.

However, landscaping may encounter problems particularly in houses above street levels such as slopes. Hence llandscaping ideas for slope should be employ to get a solution. These ideas suggest using simple cost-effective solutions like ground covers, terracing regarding and retaining walls. Dealing with backyard landscapes, landscape edging ideas plays a vital role. Its purpose is to make a well define line between bed and lawns, and keeps the turf grass, from invading the buds, plus it keeps soil and mulch from spilling over into the lawn.

With so many different types of decorative edging available and looking for the right landscape edging materials is not simple; therefore it would be great if you will use the landscaping software that gives you perfect visual images for your garden. Professional landscaping software is user friendly featuring the architectural graphic symbols. These architectural symbols may include trees and shrubs, outdoor furniture, people, playground sets, vehicles, swimming pools and variety of shapes, materials and colors and many other landscaping decorations. In fact a lot of home owners and garden users use these. It can save your time, money as well as unnecessary work in the long run.

Landscaping ideas either for the slopes or backyards of the garden possess different components of arts and principles. A landscaping architect could help you to implement these best landscaping ideas efficiently to accomplish a great finishing look to your garden effectively.

Better Design with Landscape Edging

Nothing sets apart a yard better than incorporating landscape edging. It can be used as a defining element and also as an excellent way to draw the eye's attention to a focal point. Not only is it the perfect finishing touch, landscape edging also serves a practical use. It's it's one of the best ways of keeping grass and weeds from growing into your flower beds and it'll help keep the soil and mulch in your garden from washing away.

A Multitude of Landscape edging choices.

Next time you're out working in your garden, consider ways to take advantage of this easy way to add instant curb appeal to your home. Once you start shopping for landscape edging you'll quickly realize that it's available in a wide range of styles and prices. There are a number of natural and man-made materials to choose from including plastic, wood, metal, stone, cement and brick.

A common option is using stones and with so many stone colors and sizes available today, it's easy to mix and match them to create a landscape edging look that's truly unique.

Another excellent choice is Wood for landscape edging material. You can use railroad ties, pieces of timber or sections that are already made so all you need to do is measure and install. Since exposure to the elements is inevitable, consider choosing cedar, cypress or redwood as these woods are the most resistant to rot and insects.

If You want to achieve a look that's totally natural and seamless, why not choose colorful flowering plants or green shrubs? Take a trip to your local garden center to see the many options including those that have been especially designed for use as landscape edging.

An other option is metal landscape edging. It is both durable and versatile, but because of its ability to be molded into different shapes, the finished look can vary considerably. Your choices can include a pattern that's very simple or you can hire a professional to custom-create an elaborate filigree design.

With its many colors and shapes plastic is a practical and popular choice in landscape edging. It's generally less expensive than other materials and it's weather-resistant.

There are so many choices!

With the abundance of landscape edging options available, your biggest challenge will likely be choosing the one that's right for your yard. If you're feeling overwhelmed, you can do what others do. Take a drive and see how your neighbors are using landscape edging.Take along your camera so that later on you'll be able to remember the designs that captured your attention.

Landscape Edging - Defining Your Choices

Landscape edging adds beauty and value to any landscape. Whether you are a professional landscaper or a beginner tackling your own home project, edging adds the polished look to make your landscape stand out from the rest. There are a various ways to utilize borders and edging in your landscape. You can use them to define walkways or paths. Separate the yard from the patio or section off a piece of your property to create a rock garden.

There are various types of edging with their own different designs and constructed out of many different materials. Make sure you choose the landscape edging that is right for your project to ensure a satisfactory outcome. Are you thinking about constructing a raised garden? Raised gardens can be constructed quickly by using landscape borders. What about a sandbox for all the children in your family to enjoy for years to come? Sandboxes are another backyard addition that can be constructed easily using landscape borders.

Most borders or edging are made from wood, metal, brick or plastic. Wood borders could be railroad ties, natural bamboo or a simple 2 by 4. Brick borders come in many different shapes, sizes and designs. A scalloped brick edger is a popular choice. Natural stone borders add natural beauty to any project. Plastic or synthetic borders may be a durable choice for such as separating unruly grass and a patio. Grass that needs to be trimmed will be up against the edging and an edging that can withstand the torture of a weed eater would be a great choice.

Before starting a project of any kind you must determine what type of edging you need to use. If raised gardens are something you want to construct, keep in mind that all gardens need water and some edging may not be able to withstand continuous moisture. Wood is an economical choice for raised gardens but may erode after years of watering. Bricks or stone edging are a nice choice but could cost a little more.

Sandboxes are a child's joy and should be constructed with careful consideration of the little ones. Choosing to make a sandbox that is edged with some kind of concrete or brick edging may be a little dangerous for small child to be playing around. Landscape edging made of a soft wood or a synthetic plastic material may be best. Sandboxes in general are dry so moisture may not be such a concern.

With some simple planning your landscape will be a prized possession that will be enjoyed for years to come. Choosing the right landscape edging for your project will make all the difference in the world.

Gardening 101 - Why Install a Landscape Edging?

Gardens and landscaping provide aesthetic value to your home. Placing different kinds of plants and flowers in front, around or even in your backyard give a refreshing and cozy feel to your house. Gardens take out the harshness and coldness associated with modern urbanity and instead bringing a splash of color to the surroundings. But many shy away from keeping a garden because they fear that they don't have time or the patience for maintaining it. But these problems can easily be solved because there are ways to make maintenance of gardens easier. Installing a landscape edging is one such move. Installing this accessory make it easier for owners to cultivate and enjoy their gardens.

A garden could be first fixed by a landscape artist but when the owner's left on his own for the garden's maintenance, problems arise. One of the difficulties associated with gardens is the problems with delineating spaces and grass. There are certain areas where grasses and plants grow out of place, and so they tend to cross over walk ways and other spaces in the garden. This problem can be solved by installing a landscape edging around areas in the garden where plants and grasses are concentrated and arranged. Landscape edgings can either be simple trenches or pieces of tile, brick, plaster or plastic embedded into the soil around the landscape arrangements. They help define the spaces in your garden.

Because landscape edgings help define and differentiate spaces in your garden, you can now take care of it with ease. Landscape edgings help you determine the areas where grasses and other weeds are not supposed to grow and you can now make moves to take control. There are edgings designed to conform to the edges of conventional lawn mowers. They are designed so that the mower can use them as "tracks" making it easy to mow hard to reach grasses near the edgings. They also ensure the health of your plants because edgings prevent the spread of weeds if placed around plant beds. If they are deep enough (in the case of trench-type edgings) or deeply embedded (in the case of tile or plaster edgings), the long roots of weeds called stolons cannot reach the soil in your plant bed. These stolons, if uncontrolled, would grow into new grass blades. Therefore, placing landscape edgings would spare you from the hassles of spraying herbicide often or worse, getting down on your knees and pulling them out.

Besides these benefits, landscape edgings also provide aesthetic value to your garden. Trenches could be otherwise plain, but choosing bricks, tile or even plastic edgings with different designs and shapes will give your garden a good aesthetic boost. There are many kinds available in the market and so you can surely find the one that's right for your budget and needs.

Landscaping Supplies That You Must Have For a Great Garden

Garden landscapes that take your breath away don't transpire overnight. They are the result of meticulous planning and choosing the right garden supplies. In this post, I've listed a few things that you need to note before you start landscaping your garden.

Landscape Edging

The process of edging has more to it than just defining a border for your yard. It gives a finished look to any garden landscape. Choose landscape supplies that are functional, durable, and easy to install. Eco friendly garden landscaping materials made of renewable components are safe to use.

Stone Edging: To protect precious plants and flower beds in your garden use border stone edging. A decorative stone edge that comes with weed barrier protection has an added advantage.

Wood Edging: One of the cheapest garden landscaping materials, it is also very popular because of its versatility.

Plastic Edging: Of all landscape supplies, this one is extremely durable and is useful for composite edging. You can buy the Ultra Edge, which has a flexible construction that allows edges to easily bend around plants.

Fencing

Fencing plays a vital role in protecting your garden. You can choose from a variety of landscaping equipment to fence your garden. The most popular choices of fences are metal and bamboo. Metal fences are easily foldable and are available in many intricate styles. Plastic fences are heavy duty materials that are easy to unroll and install. Always choose fences that match your landscape garden designs.

Landscape Accessories

Choose from a range of practical landscape accessories to add to the style and splendor of your garden. A compost starter can speed up the process of making compost for garden use. To meet your garden needs, buy landscape accessories like tumbling composter and landscape adhesives.

Decorative Landscape Edging Ideas

Most landscape edging is designed to serve a useful and practical purpose, such as banishing that pesky lawn grass from your landscape beds. But another very important function served by landscape edging is primarily aesthetic. Decorative landscape edging plays a vital role in the enjoyment of your garden, and adds value to your property as well. Decorative edging can provide many of the same benefits as the more mundane variety, but it does its job with a lot more style and grace.

Cast-Iron Edging

Gardeners both great and humble from all over the world have known the secrets of using cast iron edging for many centuries. In the modern world, it lends your garden a touch of Old-World charm and authenticity, and revisits the days when blacksmiths produced cast iron fences in coal-fired foundries.

Once powder coated, cast iron is beautiful, strong and durable. It is capable of lasting a lifetime. In fact, it might even last longer than you will! There are so many beautiful and interesting cast-iron styles to choose from. Take a look at Canterbury-style overlapping peak designs from the Victorian era, or check out the modern elegance of an Art Deco design.

Cast-iron edging can usually be assembled as a series of individual sections. You simply press them into the ground, since they are constructed with spiked support posts that are easily pressed or pounded into place. It's hard to think of any other kind of landscape edging that can provide so much elegance and authority with so little effort.

Willow Branches

Natural willow branches for garden edging are used widely in European gardens. It's an ideal choice for those folks wishing to re-create a garden border that recalls the style and charm of the authentic willow fences found in English gardens. Willow is a beautiful and graceful material that provides excellent border definition - whether it's lining the walkway or accenting a bed of flowers. Being a natural wood, it also blends effortlessly into the design of your garden.

Garden Flowers

One of the simplest garden edging ideas, often overlooked, is to use beautiful dwarf flowers and plants to form living landscape edging. Is there anything more natural than seeing mounds of flowering Rocky Mountain Zinnia or Alyssum encircling your landscape beds? Other good varieties of flowers to use for edging include: Candy Tuft, Catspaw, Artemisia, or Veronica. Really, it's possible to use any dwarf species that grows in mounds.

Decorative Landscape Curbing - Help For Creating the Perfect Look For Your Lawn and Garden

Are you looking for a new way to make your home stand out? Need a change and looking for some curb appeal that will stop the neighbors when they drive or walk by? Well, now there is an affordable way you can add that decorative touch to your curbs and really impress everyone.

So what exactly is decorative landscape curbing and what types of materials do they use to create the effects you are looking for? Decorative landscape curbing is a creative way of enhancing the way any yard or property looks to aid in the charm of your home. It can be placed as a border around beds of flowers or up and down the driveway. It is concrete that is continuously laid down in one piece with the use of an extruder and stamped and colored in various ways afterward. This unbroken border is custom fitted with any design you may have for your lawn and garden ideas.

There are a variety of packages to choose from when deciding on decorative landscape curbing options for your yard. Some of the reasons homeowners are opting for this choice is because it's affordable, it highlights and defines your yard, property lines and planters, helps with problems like keeping mulch in your flower bed, doesn't rot, rust or deteriorate, comes in a wide selection of shapes, colors and stamps to go with any decoration idea you have in mind, and it also saves time on mowing, weeding and edging.

These concrete landscape borders do not take much time to create the desired look you had in mind, and the results you will see will be completely outstanding. Some of the choices available for you with decorative landscape curbing are:

Slant Style edging geared for holding in gardening materials due to the higher back end. The front is lower so you will not have problems mowing around it.

Mower Style edging is very popular is built to both accommodate the lawn mower wheel at the same time as retain your gardening materials. It has great curb appeal by giving the landscaping a "picture framed" look.

6 x 4 Curb Style is the popular choice edging used in commercial lawn settings because it can handle the larger lawn mower wheels and has a more massive look. It can be installed as regular gray concrete or it can be textured and stamped. There is also a 6 x 6 curb style that is often used by commercial architects and placed deeper into the ground. These can also be used to help keep in your gravel, gardening materials and other driveway or walkway problem areas.

Once you have decided on the edging you would like to use, you will want to choose a finish. This is where the fun can come in. There is a wide variety to choose from such as Ashlar, BasketWeave, Bick Bond, Cobble Stone, Flag Stone, H-Brick with 2 variations, Herringbone, Nine Inch tile, Offset Bond, Random Stone, Six Inch Tile, Slate, Soldier Course, and Wood Grain.

You can either find a company by searching online and checking into their catalog of options or you can look in your local yellow pages for a location near you. With a short consultation, and a little time for planning, you can design a superb new look for your yard by choosing decorative landscape curbing designs.

Great Tips For Choosing Decorative Landscape Edging

Choosing a decorative landscape edging can be a daunting task if you don't have an idea of the statement you want your yard to make. What style are you implementing in your landscaping? Do you prefer a formal or informal appearance? Do want concrete, non-concrete or a brick edging? Do you prefer a more natural look or do you like the appearance of wrought iron? Do you like rounded shapes, natural brick or wood, plastic or metal to make a statement on your lawn?

There are well over 48 styles alone of non-concrete edging and at least eight styles in concrete. Brick edging is available in many shapes, designs and colors. The most popular edging is the non-concrete edging that is available in materials from wood, resin, wrought iron and plastic. You can even find edging that is made of wooden logs for an old fashioned log cabin design and the look is even available in cedar for an added insect repellent while still giving you a great rustic look.

Wrought iron edging has really made a recent return to the home landscaping plan in many areas. Wrought iron can be bent into some very interesting shapes and designs that can lend your yard just the right look from whimsical to elegant. The design can lead the eye to a focal point in your yard while giving your landscaping an appearance of order. Wrought iron works very well for the more formal landscaping but can be used in any landscaping with the right imagination and decorative piece in mind.

Interlocking edging is available in concrete and non-concrete styles and is easy to use. The pieces interlock to give a unique clean appearance to the design. You can find interlocking edging in wood, concrete, brick, wrought iron and even plastic. It works great for defining walkways, surrounding flowerbeds or around trees and garden areas. You can even use edging around entrances, in ground pools or even to help define your driveway.

Pricing for decorative landscape edging will greatly depend on the product you decide to use. It varies on the style and material of the edging. edging comes in many designs, textures, lengths and materials that all have an effect on the price. edging can be found from under fifty dollars all the way up to four hundred dollars, depending on how much you will need to purchase and the style and material involved.

Finish Off Your Landscape With Elegant Brick Edging

A few years ago, my dad got tired of the mis-matched rocks and broken bricks that my mom used to line the flower beds around our house. So he and I went to a local home improvement store and bought about a dozen scalloped brick edgers for her to use instead. We brought them home, and then went off again on another errand.

When we returned, my mom had already put the brick edgers in place the way she wanted them. Because there weren't enough of the edgers to stretch to all the flowerbeds, she'd interspersed the edgers with those same old broken bricks and rocks. So it rather spoiled the effect. My dad just threw up his hands and gave up. There's no doubt about it, when it comes to designing landscaping my mother does not have any taste. But if you ask her about it she'll say that she likes the way everything looks.

There's not much point to that story, except to say that either you have good taste or you don't, and if you don't have good taste hopefully you're self-aware enough to know it, and hire someone else to do your designing!

What makes good taste? Well, it's not necessarily a liking for wood over metal, or metal over plastic. All that is a matter of personal taste and is not necessarily bad or good. But if you're going to have a series of bookcases in your home, for example, they should be all the same design - all wood, all metal, all plastic - so that they match and don't detract from the eye. That's the key to good taste.

If you do have an eye for design, then you'll probably find that your landscaping can be set off quite elegantly with the addition of brick patio stones, paving stones and landscape edgers. As with any other landscaping accessory, these bricks come in a vast variety of colors and designs, so that you're sure to find something you like. Only please, buy enough so that you can use them on every project, and if you run out - go back to the store and get more! Don't ruin the effect by adding broken brick and rocks...it just doesn't work.

Use brick to line your flower beds, build up retaining walls, or make pathways.

Add a patio

If you'd like to add a brick patio to your backyard, it's quite easy to do, but you do have to give it some thought. Take some time to ensure that the ground where you want to place the patio is level - otherwise some of the bricks might settle and others will rise and give the patio an unfinished look. Also if live in an area with frequent frost or snow, where the ground has a tendency to heave up, you'll have to take that into consideration. Consult with your local home improvement store professional to learn the best ways of building your patio. As for the design of the bricks, you can get plain brick and place them in rows, or alternate them vertically and horizontally, or do a sort of basket weave. The design is pretty much up to you. However, check your local building or neighborhood codes to make sure they don't have any say over whether or not you can add a simple patio.

As with any landscaping feature, design what you want on paper first, before you go out and purchase the material. Then, go out and buy your material, pick up a couple of pairs of sturdy gloves to protect your hands, and get to work!