Curbs & Edging

The basic use of any edging is to delineate one area, or element, of your outdoor design from another. Edging and curbing, whether natural stone, concrete or other material, is essential to create a crisp, clean line between things like turf and mulch, garden beds and walkways, and driveways and patios.

Regardless of how you’ve designed your outdoor living space, edging and curbs allow you to create a visually stunning and distinct layout that clearly outlines the different areas of your yard.

The simplest way to define the difference between a curb and an edge, or edging, is the materials used and their height.

Hardscaping Curbs

Curbs are typically taller and made from formed concrete, and are straight, raised hardscaping elements. You can find them in parking lots or driveways to designate parking areas and prevent vehicles from going into lawns or garden beds. Curbs can also be used like shorter walls in landscaping design, were single piece, formed concreate are built into the the design.

As well, the durability of tall, formed concrete curbs can be used as a solid, smooth hardscape element between turf and beds or trees, that a mower can run along with ease, saving hours of weed whacking in those areas of your lawn.

Many consumers install curbing for patios, driveways, entranceways, flowerbeds and to separate home and yard. These days, curbing is being used for many landscaping applications that were not previously used. Retaining barriers, erosion control and drainage are all now firmly in the hardscape curbing purview.

Curbing has come a long way from the basic concrete look. The addition of pattern stamping and color is used to make boring concrete dazzle in landscape design. However, concrete curbing does have limitations, so when considering it’s use, make sure you consider all factors.

Landscape edging, on the other hand, is often natural stone, brick or textured concrete that is no more than about 4” tall. It comes in various lengths and widths to match your walkways and patio hardscape design.

Landscape edging is used to keep flower beds, shrubbery beds, turf and mulch from bleeding into walkways, patios and water features. The advantage of using hardscape edging, is that you can match the edging with your walkway and patio materials to create a crisp, seamless aesthetic.

Edging and curbing can save time and money when doing maintenance. Landscape edging and curbs can provide crisp, clean edges to define all the different areas of your outdoor landscaping design.

Edging and curbing keeps mulch inside of garden beds, and can also provide a barrier to keep roots and weeds from creeping into lawns. It prevents soil or mulch in garden beds from spilling into the lawn whenever you water, or it rains.

Landscape edging also prevents pathways made of loose material, such as gravel or mulch, from bleeding into surrounding lawns or pathways. A solidly defined edging of natural stone maintains clearly defined walkways and paths, while keeping the path materials in place.

Edging and curbing is a terrific ways to break up sections of your landscape design, provide a focal point around larger trees and patios.

Taller landscape edging options, such as short hedges or low fencing, can help keep people on designated walkways or out of flower beds or gardens. Landscape edging also keeps visitors out of areas you don't want them to go.

If landscape edging is flat and wide enough, it can handle the wheels of a lawn mower. A practical mowing strip created by landscape edging eliminates the need for manicuring the edges with weed trimmer, and it prevents you from mowing over tender plants in beds at the edge of a lawn.

Edging should be set firmly in place around your beds, walkways or patio areas to ensure they are not dislodged when mowers, children, pets or feet bump into them. You don’t want to have to reset your edging every time you mow!

When considering whether to use hardscape curbs or edging, there are few basic questions to ask:

1. Are you going for a more decorative look and feel in your design? If so, edging may be the right option to consider, as hardscape edging offers a lot of versatility in colour, texture and size.
2. Are environmental factors a consideration? If there is a lot of freeze or thaw in your part of the country, you might not want curbing as it is less forgiving over time.
3. What type of ground cover are you trying to separate? Hardscape edging is typically no more than about 4” in height, so more decorative ground cover may call for curbing more so than edging.

Curbing and edging is simple and effective way to give your property a great look, and add that extraordinary touch to your landscape design.

Hardscape edging and curbing material can be anything from black rubber to tin, to small wrought iron pieces, to pickets, plastic edging, concrete or stone. With all the choices available to to you, there’s something to suit the landscape design you have in mind for function, style, and budget.

Here are few examples of landscape design elements and the hardscaped edging and curbs that suit the project:

Lawn & Garden Edging or Curbs

Use natural stone or formed concrete as a divider between the lawn and garden beds.

Mowing Strip

A flat, wide material, such as brick or flagstones can create a firm base suitable for the wheels of a lawn mower to easily pass beside without harming the edges of flower beds or vegetable gardens, or crossing into the mulch or loose materials of a walkway.

Corral Mulch In Garden Beds

To keep a heavily mulched flower bed or vegetable garden in place, use an edging material of stone or brick that extends at least 2 inches above the ground.

Beauty Edging

If the edging is purely aesthetic, options are virtually limitless and you can choose from any variety of natural stone, brick or concrete to suit your landscape design.