Josh | August 16, 2017 | 0 Comments
Garden borders improve a garden’s aesthetic while defining partitions in the landscape. In large manicured lawns, they create breaks in one’s line of vision, emphasising the garden’s focal points.
Installing garden borders make the maintenance of landscaped areas highly manageable. Weeding and mowing can be quickly done without damaging plants. Application of fertilisers and other chemicals is easily controlled.
When searching for garden border ideas, you must first establish what the border will be used for.
Garden borders can serve as dividers, mowing strips or simply added for aesthetic functions.
As lawn and garden dividers, your border will be used to protect your plant beds from gravel and creeping grass. The edging you can create for this function can be a trench or a V-shaped ditch.
If you are aiming for a mowing strip, wide flat materials are ideal for creating a base that will not damage the lawn mower’s wheels.
For capturing mulch, you should have edging that is planted at least 4 inches deep and stands at least 2 inches above the ground.
For beauty edging, you are free to choose any material, shape and line that enhances your garden’s comeliness.
Landscaped gardens with well-designed borders elevate homes and public spaces’ visage. Elevate your garden’s look with these garden border ideas.
Classic designs have achieved their status as they have been proven time and again to give unfading splendour.
The gardening staples bricks, rocks and stones, metal and concrete are the best materials for fashioning borders with a timeless beauty. These materials create a subtle elegance, highlighting the plants’ lushness and beauty. Despite their modesty, their presence can refine the humblest of gardens.
In the gardening world, metal borders are the epitome of simple beauty. They are sometimes hard to see, but they define partitions giving gardens’ areas a distinct silhouette. They are easily malleable making them great options for creating elegant curving lines.
With materials like bricks, stones and rocks, you can create straight hard lines or soft arching lines. You can lay the materials flat for a more subtle look or make them stand. You can also pile them on top of each other to create a taller border.
Concrete gives the most flexibility. It can take on any height, shape and line you desire. It is best for creating curved and circular borders or creating unconventional lines such as widely-spaced zigzag patterns.
Wood, bamboos and dried vines give gardens a warm, welcoming ambience. As organic materials blending in with flowers and foliage, they relax the eyes and the mind.
Wood may seem rigid, but you can fashion them for curving beds. If you prefer sleek lines, you can have solid straight borders made, making the whole edged area look like it is in a huge plant box.
Wood and bamboo are ideal materials for creating tall borders. They can be cut into several pieces and placed vertically like a fence. Using thick wood and cutting them in varying lengths creates playful lines. If you use hollow bamboo, you can fill it with potting soil and plant shallow-rooted ornamental flora such as creeping thyme. If you want a sweet look, miniature fences create a pleasant little surprise.
Cut branches and dried wisteria vines are perfect for creating wattle borders. Used as a border for native flowers, you can create the perfect romantic cottage garden.
You can give your garden soft edging by using herbaceous borders. These type of borders intimidate a lot of beginning gardeners as creating them requires knowledge of flowering times and plant habits. In full bloom, they create an enchanting display of colours, textures and juxtaposed shapes.
You can achieve a lot of looks with herbaceous borders. As pool garden borders, your swimming area can assume the appearance of a paradise-like oasis. To break the monotony of a flat landscape, you can use Scots Heather to fringe a path or create an accent for lawns.
Double herbaceous borders are always stately features of fine English gardens. Create herbaceous borders on facing sides, and you create a landscape worthy of horticultural high fashion.
One of the joys of having an herbaceous border is that you can have a multitude of plants growing in your garden. It is best to choose up to 10 types of plants and ordering them in fives, sevens or more, depending on the size of your border.
To create a perennial woodland border, you can use plants such as columbine, daffodils, snowdrops and tulips. If you want summer-flowering perennials, consider dahlias, begonias, sea hollies and poppies. For autumn-flowering perennials, try chrysanthemums, heleniums and aster.
Contemporary gardens have sleek lines and look perpetually maintained. Shrubs and trees usually have geometric shapes and are regularly trimmed. The overall feel is pared-back, patterns can be easily distinguished, and lighting is never missing.
The beauty of having a contemporary garden is that you are freer to use unconventional materials. The use of items such as coloured glass bottles, bicycle rims and corrugated steel will make your garden appear to have art installations for borders.
Blue and green coloured glass bottles are the most appealing for borders. They create an uplifting contrast to dark tiles and subdued colours common in contemporary gardens.
Clear bottles are ideal as well. You can fill them with pebbles or coloured sand to create more texture. You can also use clear bottles and install a light in them so that they can double as garden floor lights.
Bicycle rims and corrugated steel give an industrial twist to a contemporary garden. When using corrugated steel, the hard and cold yet grooved metal sheet creates a strong contrast to the gentle and welcoming look of plants. Bicycle rims, on the other hand, with their strong circular frames yet delicate-looking wires, complement the soft lines of plants.
There are so many styles and materials you can use for your garden border. If you are finding it hard to decide, Oakleigh Manor’s Landscape & Garden Design Team would be happy to help you.
