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Sep 18, 2023

How To Edge Flower Beds Like A Pro

It’s time to level up your garden. Here's how to successfully edge your flower

It's time to level up your garden. Here's how to successfully edge your flower beds in four easy steps.

Quincy Bulin is a writer focused on lifestyle, among other topics and has contributed to Better Homes & Gardens, Reader's Digest, and more.

Edged flower beds aren't necessary (though the best gardens have them), but there are definitely practical and aesthetic benefits. "It can emphasize the space and cleanly separate it from other parts of your garden," explains Rebecca Sears, CMO & Resident Green Thumb at Ferry-Morse. "It can also help with preventing materials such as soil or mulch from being displaced into other parts of your garden or lawn." Luckily, it's also pretty simple too. Here's how you can successfully edge your flower beds in four easy steps.

Rebecca Sears is the CMO & Resident Green Thumb at seed company Ferry-Morse.

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Instead of digging wherever your whim takes you, we recommend you take the time to make a plan. "You’ll want to begin by marking the placement and border of your flower bed," Sears recommends. This doesn't have to be elaborate—a string or hose will get the job done.

Now it's time to pull out your edger, which is a long-handled, half-moon shaped tool, or a traditional flat-edged shovel. According to Sears, the neatest and most effective way to create your edge is to cut the outside and inside edges of the marked border.

After that's all done, you can remove the sod. "You’re left with a nice, clean edge that should be maintained regularly with trimming and weeding," says Sears. (Yes, it's really that easy.)

There are a lot of ways to elevate your flower bed edges, if you so choose. For depth and texture, you can add bricks or stones to the border. "If you’re looking for a more subtle way to up your edging game, you can add strips of steel or aluminum around the edges for a cleaner and more uniform look," Sears suggests. Beyond aesthetic preference, you should also consider the time it takes to build and maintain your new edges.

For a more simplistic approach, consider lining your beds with border flowers that are fit for the edge. You want a variety that's lower to the ground and grows relatively neatly to create that definable border. While there are plenty of options out there, these are a few of our favorites: