Best Flower Bed Border Ideas for Savvy Home Gardeners
A blooming flower garden is a visual treat for gardeners and visitors alike. But how neat and orderly you keep your garden is essential, too.
Flowers that bob in the path of lawnmowers risk karate chop – no fun for you, or the flowers. Save the blooms with these handy flower bed border ideas.
Garden Edging Materials
Garden edging separates your lawn and walkway from your flowers and landscape plants. Moreover – whether found or manufactured – is available in a range of materials.
Popular edging materials include stone, brick, steel, and wood to name a few. Here’s an overview –
Natural Stone landscape edging is a beautiful accompaniment to a flower garden. Keep in mind you’ll need strong muscles to carry and position heavy stones so consider hiring a landscape professional. A professional will design a stunning border that will complement your garden and boost your home’s curb appeal.
Available natural stone types include:
- Flagstone
- Travertine
- River rock
- Limestone
- Granite
Pro tips with natural stone:
- Use smooth river rocks along a flower border for a soft, romantic feel – save the rough-edged stones for highlighting shrubs and trees.
- When arranging small boulders or stones, choose ones that are approximately the same size. This arrangement will create an orderly, uniform look.
- For a modern industrial look, encase small stones (4-inch to 5-inch in diameter) inside a foot-high, steel wire gabion wall.
- Natural stone edging has uneven edges – to keep your garden looking neat, run a string trimmer along with the stones at ground level.
Brick pavers make a traditional, attractive garden edge. They’re ideal for creating a broad border that keeps grass from invading the garden. Brick pavers can be installed vertically or flat.
Pavers placed flat add a nice, level surface for mower wheels to travel on. Brick pavers are a great look for a formal flower garden.
They also work well in an informal garden with gentle curves and slopes.
Pro tip: Mark the shape of your flower border with a garden hose. It’s easy to bend the hose to make curved shapes. To make a straight border, install the pavers along a taut string line.
Installing Brick Pavers:
Adjust the front of the pavers so they are approximately 1/2-inch above soil level. This makes for easy mower cutting.
The top of each paver should line up and sit flush with the adjacent paver. The front edges should create a visual, even line. If one paver is higher than another, then take a rubber mallet or a woodblock and strike the paver until it’s flush.
Steel strip edging provides a subtle and refined garden border that easily blends into the lawn and landscape. Best for a flat yard, steel edging can be easily bent into smooth, undulating curves.
When installing steel edging, set the top edge approximately 1/2-inch above soil level. This will prevent grass from spreading into the flower bed.
Steel edging is one of the best flower bed border ideas. Although it’s popular with gardeners, you may not find it at your local plant nursery.
So, check with large garden centers or landscape suppliers in your area.
Steel edging is sold in long strips – usually measuring 4-inch (wide) by 10-ft (length). It’s available in a wide range of colors including black, bronze, green, and brown. Sand off any sharp pointed edges with a file before installation.
Cut wood edging – For an inexpensive DIY flower bed border that looks great and is easy to install, wood may be your best choice. Purchase lengths of wood at your local home center. You can use 2x4s, half rounds, full rounds – even leftover scrap lumber will do. Read more garden edging tips, here.
More Flower Bed Border Ideas
If DIY projects are your thing, then these unique border ideas are for you! Not only are they very easy to install but they will also give your garden a more distinct look.
DIY Flower Bed Border
- Dig a shallow trench where the edging will go. (You’ll be lining up wood pieces side by side.)
- Place a cut wood piece in the trench.
- Shovel a portion of the dirt back into the trench.
- Pack the soil down and around the wood section so it’s held upright
- Using a level to check that the wood sections are vertical – adjust the angle as needed.
- Pack the rest of the soil tightly around the wood piece.
- Add another wood section, placing it beside the first. Repeat until the border is complete.
Pro tip: Cut the wood sections the same length for a uniform fence look. Or cut the wood sections in two or three varying lengths to create an attractive stair-step effect. Example: 6-inch, 7-inch, and 8-inch sections.
DIY Glass Wine Bottle Edging
Do you collect wine bottles? If so, here’s an idea for environmentally-friendly edging – a garden border created from repurposed glass wine bottles. As the sun shines through the bottles, the reflected light will highlight your flower garden.
The rounded shape and deep coloration of wine bottles are a perfect complement to bright-colored blooms. Not enough bottles? Ask your friends and neighbors to donate.
- Dig a narrow trench along the garden edge, approximately 6-inches deep. Use a garden hose as a guide to making a curved design.
- Place a wine bottle upside down in the trench, adjusting it to your preferred height. (2-1/2 inches to 3-inches is recommended).
- Use a level to ensure that the bottle is vertical – tilting it as needed.
- Pack the soil firmly around the bottle.
- Add another bottle, placing it beside the first, and at the same height. Repeat as above.
Pro tips:
- Add visual interest by choosing bottles in a variety of colors such as dark green, light green, blue, clear, and amber.
- For a sparkling accent, line up colorful bottles along a garden wall.
- Make a butterfly watering station by burying three or four wine bottles close together, in a group. The shallow indentations on the bottom of the bottles will hold a little rainwater – just enough for butterflies to land and enjoy.
Learn more about DIY wine bottle edging, here.
Safety note: Before you dig, it’s important to know where underground utility lines are. Call your local utility company or phone 811 to find out.
Garden edging will keep your garden orderly and add visual appeal to your yard. It will also prevent grass from reaching your flower bed.
Add depth, texture, and creativity to your flower garden with these flower bed border ideas.
