Edging Materials in Landscapes

Separating elements is an integral part of the prettiest landscape designs. Thus edging materials  double as not only aesthetic but also as functional elements. Designs as simple as the laid-in rock edging in the picture below separate the walkway materials – compacted gravel – from the enriched and lush soil of the beds of this fine small herb and flower garden in Portland, Oregon. The thing is they also look good.

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(click images to enlarge)

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That one was actually a tough project to make work. The designer asked us to create edges which were nearly perfect – along with the plane of the top edge – which, while not a big deal on the face of it, making it work with the materials at hand required a lot of manual hammer chipping, then fitting – all of this with materials which were all wildly different sizes. Looking at the step stones at the foot of the bench in the picture above is a reasonable gander at the materials we had to work with. The other aspect is how deeply-planted the edgings were. Let’s just say these edges are not going anywhere for a while.

Naturally, lawn edges are what people often refer to when thinking of edging and edging materials. Later, below, I will show the world of “edgings” is far and above merely lawn edging, but a look at lawns is instructive and probably the reason most people would be most interested in the category in general.

Lawn Edging

In order to fully appreciate lawn edging, one is benefited most by considering the alternative. By not having lawn edging, what we are left with can be the rhizomes that grass roots develop which  spread routinely. Thus comes the need to consistently address the edges in order to render them under some sort of control. I have dealt, cursing and swearing, with these matters, from a strictly maintenance aspect. The near-weekly need to edge and weed at the same time is a chore that generates a lot of business and focus for such “unedged” lawns. It also  requires an expenditure of labor that – frankly – no one wants, from the homeowner to the personnel who consistently need to get on their knees and pull out the offending rhizomes and spreading grass. Applications of herbicides then becomes an appealing solution – perhaps the least productive answer to anyone’s long term health – of garden and persons.

For example, imagine how much easier to maintain this lawn below, compared to the one following it:

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Beautiful as it is, the gardeners spend abundant time here managing the edges of this pretty little lawn:

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And even this otherwise gorgeous landscape sees the upper edges in need of work and constant definition:

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The price of this extruded cement edging is about $3.00-$3.50 a lineal foot. What we have above is a stretch of about 75 feet. Thus, on a project the owners paid upwards of $25K for, they opted to omit this $225 worth of pricing when including it would have given them something more along these lines and meant countless hours less fuss:

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These particular edgings are widely-used out West in the US. They do require some preparation in order to be completely terrific. Indeed, much the same as paving, the better the surface below, the better able it will be to take on the wheels of lawnmowers and weather. These aspects are best laid prior to installation of the grass, in my experience, but it is always possible to retro-fit them to conform to existing areas as well. We always have gone the extra length in order to assure ourselves of a good sub base. To reach a level like the one below, just being sodded for its first time, are some essential steps:

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The preparation – well done – deals with each foot of this small cement barrier having been compacted solidly, usually with a mix of sand, soil and even gravel underneath. From that point on, it is possible then to fill in the elements which will surround the barrier.

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Nor does this S-shaped concrete edging always give the most ideal edge. Below is what was once the Model Home in a pretty large subdivision. We were asked to install a water feature – not too distracting or noisy – with a small bridgework to be installed spanning its narrows. The owners were insistent on having some lawn there as well and I think we made it work delightfully well. Notice the flat top to this lawn edging, something less apparent, yet still separative and in the same hue as the other concrete around it:

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Other Edgings

Otherwise, edging materials supply separation for things such as paving bricks:

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They can also be of materials other than concrete, steel, for example:

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Slim and sturdy, once established they stay in place for long years, separating elements of this Portland, Oregon lawn and garden in various unobtrusive ways:

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Plastic Edgings

Plastic edging is actually a fairly exciting and newer development and is, by far, cheaper than the alternatives listed above. I suppose I should have mentioned these first, but then, had I done that, there would have been much less showing off. I personally consider that a fate worse than death itself. 😉

And here we get into who’s a gardener and who’s not. Edging, in many ways, is best seen and not heard. Separation is the game and plastic’s essential nature allows it to bend and conform easily with the edges we desire. Here, for example, is a project done by a landscape architect friend of mine, Ofer El Hashahar, who I feature in another post just a few ago. His website in in my blogroll, in fact. This is a UK project, full of color and definition and all dependent upon plastic lawn and garden edging.

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They work magnificently. If the end goal is a lawn which we can take pride in and which requires less maintenance, then we reach a point where we wonder what we can spend and work from there. Obviously, the wonders of cement edging allow us to tone the color of the edging if we desire, giving us an extremely elegant and even enhancing aesthetic dimension to edgings. Needless to say, the funky sort of natural stone look is as nice in many ways but is severely unable to handle the lawn edge challenge of supporting wheel traffic without the mower bouncing and the stones deforming. Steel, for anyone who has used it, is an enormously tricky material to work with and its cost is surprisngly close to that of extruded cement.

Plastic edging, when installed correctly can be a wonderful product, reasonably easy to install and often making designers out of the most normal of people!

It’s so easy, in fact, even a landscaper can do it!

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Of course, he may need just the right equipment for the job. After all, my motto has always been to work smarter, not harder. Oh yes, and “No job too big or too small!:

(this one enlarges real nicely!)

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It’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.

Root Barriers: My Buddy Ofer and Technology

A Landscape Architect friend of mine in the UK sells root barriers online among scads of other things.  Ofer reminded me recently of something I had once taken huge care to deal with, back when I was working in the close confines of cities and suburban commercial projects. These projects were all just rife with restricted spaces and gardens over underground parking structures and they all found some relief with this new great product: Root Barriers. I recall using some of the very first large plastic and very strong root barriers in Monterey, California, in a new parking lot hard by the Monterey Aquarium. This was the first of what proved to be numerous applications of this handy and extremely effective material.

Root barriers are used to contain the spread of tree and shrub roots in order to protect other facets of a landscape from heaving and losing integrity. Easily-expandable large sheets of durable plastic now encircle the roots of trees up to 6 feet in depth, forcing the roots ever-downward in their search for water and feeding.

Root Barriers have only been developed formally since 1975. Obviously, efforts to control root growth have always been born closely in mind – all sorts of applications and efforts in the past have included concrete barriers/planters which we poured-in-place as well steel barriers and other efforts, typically always fighting the imperial instincts of expanding nature. It took the wonders of plastic to make this entire new field a more amenable and far easier task for installers and planners.

Yet, finding ways to combat something extraordinarily prevalent took more time than one might think. It has definitely been easy seeing the reasons for them. We all desired a product which could orient roots less invasive to the sides where the more obvious ravages appear and downwards to a “safer” a layer of soil:

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We arrived at something like the above as a desired direction of root growth. We have since found that it is entirely possible to get there using the simplest of devices – a plastic panel, attachable to the next or simply rolled out and pre-measured – expandable and wrapped a reasonable distance around the tree or plant. Thus, not only does the barrier reduce the damage from expanding roots, it also has a lot to do with the emerging shape of the young tree above the ground. A result usually results giving a more columnar tree – at least until the tree’s roots expand and find what they need down below the barrier.

Modern structures have demanded even more attention to this detail as we continue to lay on the asphalt to “Paradise”, as Joni Mitchell so eloquently sang it, providing enormous parking facilities to accommodate our love affair with cars. Planting strips abounded in the later part of the 20th Century. In an effort to make these generally-abhorrent facilities more appealing to the eye, landscape designers decided a nice result would be to arrange thin planting beds between aisles. Demarking separate parking areas on the plane of a parking lot led to planting trees in abundance for various reasons – perhaps the most important of which is their thin profile near the parking spaces themselves which can hopefully better avoid bumpers and parking accidents. Shrubbery can fare poorly indeed in these situations. Let’s face it – this parking area is better than the one following:

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Not too pretty, is it – the one below, I mean? Well, at least they don’t have to worry about maintenance! The below is what I like to refer to as a gardener-free Zone.

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So root barriers allow us to implement a greener environment, sans the continual worries of upsetting the structure itself. Nor is it merely parking lots which are affected. There are abundant situations where reorienting roots to a lower water field are applicable.  Retaining walls come foremost to mind, but any patio or residential or even general pedestrian thru-way applies here as well. Needless to say, roads, curbs and the various long term upsets of planting too closely to buildings and flat structures get some much needed relief, nearly no matter which trees are decided on. I have even seen Sequoia’s in the West treated this way to great effect, negating the inevitability of this, at least for a few years:

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History: Once these controlling mechanisms became wider known, suddenly a raft of possible applications presented themselves. Suddenly bamboo could once again be specified for landscapes. Other ‘rhizoming’ plantings which are voracious and famous for it also became possibilities. It honestly did open up some real new and interesting possibilities. It’s truly amazing what a strip of plastic can do.

Plumbing: And not just plumbing, either, but all features of house supply of services, from water and waste to electrical and cable can now be protected by the insertion of such a simple and elegant solution at the face of these mechanisms, or just around the potential invaders. By directing the roots downwards, suddenly the invasions of Birch, Willow and other water-seeking suckers and trees becomes moot.

The benefits of root barriers are a relatively new technology. It’s a technology whose time has definitely come. Once again, my friend Ofer has a bit of information and a few interesting quotes in his website as well as a plethora of good and useful products. He designs and installs gardens and landscapes as well in the UK and is trying to get a bit of income for his growing brood over there in England Land. Here is his site, again, check him out:

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A-a-n-n-nnd They’re Off!! Louisville’s Gallopalooza

Just for kicks! 😉

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Sea Biscuit leads the pack at the first turn –

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The pace is hot!

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Cabbage is up at the head of the bunch

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With Bubble Gum, stickin’ to the rail!

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It’s a competitive race, ladies and gents!

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Banana peels around on the outside!

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With Van Gogh charging hard!

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And Starburst giving chase!

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Cherokee Park even showed up, running hard

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With her picnic area tattooed as always

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This is a detail horse!

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Looking good and stylin’ her Daniel Boone statue!

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Royalty was also well-represented as Louisville’s namesake points the way

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Although, to be perfectly honest, some horses didn’t much care –

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There were some definitely lazy nags at the track that day –

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While some were almost too darn excited!

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All in all, no one remembered who won. The race was fun all by itself!

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Louisville’s “Gallopalooza” is a fund-raising and civic pride phenomenon initiated a few years ago by consigning the best artists in town to do their thing on some gorgeous horses. It’s almost unfair using something as cool and beautiful as a horse to draw and paint on – already beautiful in form, horses are a Louisville love affair. These babies were already placed all over town a few years ago. They are a wonderful institution and uncommonly pretty to look at. They are fun.

Here is some interesting info on the event with many more horses featured in photo’s from Flickr…..here.

Late Fall At St. James Court – Louisville

I have written about St. James Court and the Belgravia areas of Louisville in the past – here and here – dealing with the history of the area and its onset as an exceptional Louisville neighborhood. Unbelievably exceptional, in fact. Also, the pictures then were all taken in the Summer when everything was blooming and gorgeous. This is about another season of this enchanting neighborhood and the Autumn here has become equally interesting to me. It’s late Fall now and 70% of the leaves have fallen. It serves as a stark but gorgeous reminder that Winter is on its inexorable way. The thing is, it sets a definite mood, somehow. It is all around, and it’s just encompassing.

There is something about the competing gaiety and the fascinating architectural diversity  in the local architecture – the rather thrilling excitement of a town, bursting at the seams, yet still concerned with beauty at the time of its establishment- admixed with Time, History and humanity itself to give such a mood. Somehow somber, we walked together enjoying the sights and smells in a quieter way than before – in many ways even more able to appreciate the architecture, yet still carrying the scent of things finishing for the year. You know – those days when Winter announces itself in no small way.

(left click images to enlarge, once or even twice)

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This picture above is Belgravia, an adjoining pedestrian thruway, attached to St. James Court and every  bit as interesting in every way if not more. Somehow, the rather forlorn appearance really nailed me while walking through. But then, of course, I had seen it at its height of Summer glory, too. I guess that’s it – the Exceptional somehow crashes into the Inevitable, as always, and Winter will soon drop its snow and ice and make what was an absolute riot of color and form into something indistinguishable from any old neighborhood.

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Back on St. James Court, it is even more stark

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The spiny, empty trees, devoid of their lushness with the passing of their leaves, present such a stark outline. The few remaining ones possessing any leaves at all are the yellow remains of the local Ginkgo Bilbao’s and the reds and greens  a couple of straggling Maples and oaks.

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What always salvages any trip through this neighborhood, however, is the unparalleled craftsmanship devoted to the finishes of these gorgeous homes.  I totally misspoke in my despair about Winter coming. This neighborhood will always be unique and inspiring, in spite of nearly any amount of snow.

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The gorgeous finishing details of all the Turn-Of-The-Century artisans and craftsmen make this area well worth touring on any day:

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Wonderful Iron Work abounds:

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The details, the excellent painting choices of the current residents and owners, all lead to a very deep appreciation of the history and promise of the entire area, so well-maintained and so well-loved.

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The details are the thing. Even the brick and stonework.

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Take a stroll now……….and let’s just browse a bit.

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Louisville loves its history and it shows.

Now – if we could just get Santa Cruz weather!  😉