Most well-designed landscapes consist of various areas that serve different purposes, such as a vine-covered sitting area, a vegetable garden, or a flower border. Landscape edging helps to accentuate each of these separate spaces while also lending a unifying element to your garden's design. Edging can have a practical role as well, such as holding mulch in place and preventing mowers from damaging your prized plants. Depending on your aesthetic and functional purposes for edging, options range from a simple trench to high-end paving stones, and everything in between. We'll help you sort through all the considerations at play so you can decide which landscape edging will work best in your garden.

Landscape Edging Uses

Edging creates clean, crisp lines between beds and other areas. It is most visible between a lawn and the adjoining garden, but landscape edging can define a flower border, a shrub bed, a single tree, or the transition from a patio to the surrounding garden. It emphasizes the lines of beds, and it leads the eye to the next garden focal point.

From a practical standpoint, landscape edging helps to keep turfgrass from creeping into surrounding garden areas. At the same time, it prevents soil or mulch in garden beds from spilling onto the lawn whenever you water or it rains. Landscape edging also corrals pathways made of loose material, such as gravel or mulch; it maintains clearly defined walkways while keeping the path materials in place.

Landscape Edging Types

A wide range of materials can work as landscape edging so there is something to suit the function, style, and cost you have in mind.

Lawn & Garden Divider: As a divider between the lawn and garden beds, edging can be as simple as a trenched edge or a shallow, V-shape ditch.

Mowing Strip: Use a flat, wide material, such as brick or flagstones, to create a firm base suitable for the wheels of a lawn mower.

Mulch Capture: To keep a heavily mulched bed in place, use a material that extends at least 2 inches above ground , like an Easy Pound-In Landscaping Edging Kit.