Create clean, defined garden borders with professional edging installation from Greenlawn Inc. Metal, stone, and plastic options for beautiful, low-maintenance landscapes. Serving Howard County since 1986.
Professional edging transforms landscape appearance instantly
Call for FREE EstimateGarden bed edging is the defining detail that separates professional-looking landscapes from amateur attempts. Proper edging creates clean visual separation between lawn and garden beds, prevents grass from invading planted areas, contains mulch where it belongs, simplifies mowing and trimming, and provides finished appearance that dramatically improves overall curb appeal. Without edging, even well-maintained Howard County gardens look unfinished and require constant re-edging to maintain definition.
At Greenlawn Inc, we've been installing garden bed edging throughout Ellicott City and Columbia since 1986. Our 39 years of experience has taught us that proper edging installation—choosing appropriate materials, setting correct depth, and securing properly—makes the difference between borders that last years versus edging that fails within a season. Professional installation ensures your investment delivers lasting beauty and functional benefits rather than becoming maintenance headache.
Garden beds without proper edging face multiple ongoing challenges:
Multiple edging materials work for Ellicott City landscapes, each with distinct characteristics:
Metal edging provides clean, modern lines with exceptional durability. Steel edging (plain or powder-coated) offers maximum strength and nearly invisible profile when properly installed—just thin line defining bed borders. Aluminum provides similar aesthetics with rust resistance and easier bending for curves. Metal edging lasts decades with minimal maintenance and effectively blocks grass rhizomes that can penetrate lesser materials. The sleek profile suits contemporary landscapes while working equally well in traditional settings. Installation requires proper staking and precise height setting, but results justify the effort. Metal edging is our most popular recommendation for Columbia homeowners wanting professional, lasting results.
Best for: High-end landscapes, contemporary designs, homeowners wanting best long-term value
Lifespan: 20+ years with minimal maintenance
Heavy-duty plastic edging offers good value for most Howard County residential applications. Quality plastic edging (not the thin rolls from garden centers) provides adequate grass barrier with easy installation and flexibility for curves. Black plastic virtually disappears when properly installed with only top inch visible. Modern plastic edging includes UV stabilizers preventing rapid deterioration from sun exposure. While not as permanent as metal, good plastic edging lasts 5-10 years before needing replacement. For budget-conscious Ellicott City homeowners wanting functional edging without premium metal pricing, quality plastic provides practical solution.
Best for: Budget-conscious projects, curved beds, standard residential landscaping
Lifespan: 5-10 years before replacement needed
Natural stone, cut stone, or brick creates traditional edging with substantial visual presence. Unlike low-profile metal or plastic, stone edging is design element itself—visible border that adds character and weight to beds. Stacked stone provides rustic cottage garden feel, while cut stone or brick offers formal, elegant appearance. Stone edging works particularly well for raised beds or slopes where height provides functional terracing. The main consideration is that grass can grow through gaps between stones unless you install fabric barrier underneath. Stone also requires periodic resetting as frost heave and settling shift pieces over years. For Howard County homes with traditional architecture or cottage garden style, stone edging provides authentic period-appropriate detail.
Best for: Traditional homes, cottage gardens, raised beds, visible border desired
Lifespan: Permanent, though requires occasional resetting and maintenance
Concrete pavers or cobblestones set in sand or concrete create substantial, attractive borders particularly suited to formal gardens or properties with extensive hardscaping. This approach integrates bed borders with patios, walkways, and driveways using matching materials. Paver edging provides mowing strip—hard surface lawn mowers can run on, eliminating need for trimming along bed edges. Installation is more involved than simple metal or plastic edging, requiring excavation, base preparation, and careful leveling. Cost is significantly higher but creates upscale, integrated appearance for Columbia properties with high-end landscaping throughout.
Best for: Formal gardens, properties with extensive hardscaping, mowing strip desired
Lifespan: 20+ years with proper installation and base preparation
Some Ellicott City homeowners prefer natural cut edge using spade or edging tool to create defined border without visible materials. This traditional approach provides clean lines and costs nothing for materials. However, cut edges require frequent re-edging throughout growing season to maintain definition—every 3-4 weeks minimum. Grass continuously grows back into beds, and edges blur quickly without physical barrier. For small beds or homeowners who enjoy edging as meditative garden activity, cut edges can work. For most families, the ongoing labor makes permanent edging materials more practical long-term solution despite upfront cost.
Best for: Small areas, homeowners who enjoy frequent garden maintenance, period-appropriate gardens
Lifespan: Requires re-edging every 3-4 weeks indefinitely
Proper edging installation requires technique and attention to detail:
We begin by marking proposed bed edges using spray paint or stakes and string. This allows you to visualize final borders and approve layout before installation begins. We create smooth, flowing curves for informal beds or precise straight lines for formal designs. Proper layout prevents regret after installation—once edging is in, changes are difficult and expensive. We ensure edging follows natural contours while creating aesthetically pleasing proportions appropriate to your property scale.
For new edging installation, we cut clean trench along marked lines using edging tool or power equipment. Trench depth and width depend on edging material—metal and plastic require narrow, deep trenches for proper anchoring, while stone needs wider, shallower preparation. We remove sod and create level base ensuring edging will sit properly. Proper preparation is critical for lasting installation—edging set in uneven or poorly prepared trenches shifts, heaves, or tilts within seasons.
We install chosen edging material according to manufacturer specifications and best practices developed over 39 years. Metal edging receives proper staking every 3-4 feet to prevent shifting. Plastic edging is pinned securely at appropriate intervals for curves and straight runs. Stone is leveled and stabilized, often with landscape fabric underneath to prevent grass penetration. We ensure consistent height exposure—typically 1 inch above grade for metal and plastic, providing clear visual border without being obtrusive. Proper height is essential—too low and mulch spills over, too high and it looks awkward.
After edging is positioned and secured, we backfill both sides—soil on bed side, compacted soil on lawn side. This anchors edging firmly and creates clean transition. For lawn side, we ensure good soil contact so grass can grow right to edge without gaps that become weed havens. Bed side receives proper soil grade leading smoothly to bed interior. All work is tamped and leveled ensuring stable, long-lasting installation that won't shift with frost or maintenance activity.
We finish by grading soil on both sides for proper drainage and appearance. Excess soil is removed or redistributed. If beds are being mulched simultaneously, edging installation occurs first with mulch added afterward to proper depth against new borders. All debris from installation is removed, and your Ellicott City property is left clean with crisp, professional garden borders ready to enjoy.
Clean lines, low maintenance, lasting beauty
Schedule InstallationEven permanent edging requires occasional maintenance:
Edging with metal or plastic borders still benefits from annual re-edging along the outside (lawn side) to maintain clean lines. Grass grows up to and slightly over top edge of materials. Quick pass with edging tool or trimmer once yearly keeps borders crisp. This maintenance takes minutes rather than the hours required without permanent edging. Spring is ideal timing for re-edging, preparing beds for mulch refresh and the growing season ahead.
Metal and plastic edging relies on stakes or anchors to stay positioned. Maryland's freeze-thaw cycles can gradually work stakes loose or shift sections of edging. Annual inspection identifies loose areas needing restaking before minor problems become major failures. This quick maintenance extends edging life significantly and prevents the frustration of finding edging pushed up or shifted after winter.
Stone edging requires periodic resetting as frost heave, erosion, and settling shift individual stones. Most Howard County stone borders need attention every 2-3 years to realign shifted pieces and fill gaps. This maintenance is more involved than caring for metal or plastic edging but is manageable if addressed regularly rather than waiting for complete failure.
Mowers, string trimmers, and accidents occasionally damage edging. Plastic edging can crack or break, metal can bend, stone can crack. Most damage can be repaired by replacing individual sections rather than entire borders. Keeping extra materials from original installation allows quick repairs matching existing edging perfectly.
Professional edging installation pricing varies by material and linear footage:
We provide detailed written estimates after measuring your specific Ellicott City property and understanding your material preferences. Many homeowners choose to install edging in phases—starting with high-visibility front beds and adding back or side beds in subsequent years as budget allows.
For most Ellicott City residential properties, we recommend either steel/aluminum edging for premium, long-lasting results, or quality plastic edging for budget-friendly permanence. Metal edging provides best long-term value despite higher upfront cost—it lasts decades with minimal maintenance and creates cleanest, most professional appearance. Plastic edging costs less initially and still delivers 5-10 years of good service, making it excellent choice for homeowners who may move before metal edging's longevity really pays off. Stone borders work beautifully for traditional properties where visible border enhances rather than detracts from design, but require more ongoing maintenance than metal or plastic. The "best" choice depends on your budget, how long you plan to stay in your home, aesthetic preferences, and willingness to perform periodic maintenance. We help you evaluate these factors during consultation to identify ideal option for your situation.
DIY edging installation is certainly possible—materials are available at garden centers and installation isn't rocket science. However, achieving professional results requires proper tools, technique, and attention to detail that most homeowners lack. Common DIY problems include uneven height creating wavy borders, inadequate staking causing sections to shift, poor curves that look amateurish, and improper depth leaving edging too exposed or too buried. Professional installation costs more than DIY but delivers results that last and look correct from day one. For Columbia homeowners without landscaping experience or proper tools, professional installation often provides better value than struggling through DIY attempt that may need redoing. If you do attempt DIY, invest in quality materials rather than cheap products—thin plastic edging and flimsy metal fail quickly regardless of installation skill.
Properly installed metal or plastic edging creates effective barrier against most grass encroachment when set to appropriate depth (4-6 inches minimum). This blocks rhizomes and stolons that spread underground from lawn into beds. However, no edging prevents airborne grass seed from landing in beds and germinating, or surface-spreading grasses from trying to creep over top of edging. Annual re-edging on lawn side and occasional weeding inside beds handles these minor intrusions easily. Without edging, grass constantly invades beds through underground spread requiring frequent herbicide treatments or extensive hand-digging to control. With edging, grass control becomes minimal maintenance rather than constant battle. Stone edging is less effective barrier unless installed over fabric—gaps between stones allow grass penetration. Overall, metal and plastic edging reduces grass control effort by 80-90% compared to beds without barriers.
Metal and plastic edging should be installed 4-6 inches deep to effectively block grass roots while leaving 1 inch exposed above grade for visual border and mulch containment. This depth prevents most underground grass spread while providing enough above-ground barrier to contain mulch and define border clearly. Deeper installation (6+ inches) is better if possible, providing extra insurance against aggressive grasses and making edging more resistant to frost heave. Shallower installation (less than 4 inches) often fails to control grass adequately. Stone edging depth varies with design—single course may sit mostly on surface with minimal burial, while multi-course walls need deeper footer for stability. Proper depth is more important than most homeowners realize—skimping on depth to save installation time results in edging that doesn't perform its primary function of grass control.
Edging can be installed in existing beds without starting over completely. The process involves cutting clean trench along desired border, installing edging, and backfilling both sides. Existing plants inside bed aren't disturbed unless they're right at edge, in which case they may need transplanting slightly inward. Installing edging in established beds is actually easier in some ways than new installations because bed interior is already defined—you're just adding permanent border to existing layout. The main consideration is that if existing bed shape is irregular or poorly proportioned, installing edging locks in those lines permanently. We often suggest refining bed shapes during edging installation—smoothing awkward curves, straightening wandering lines, and improving overall proportions while adding permanent borders. This creates better long-term results than simply edging exactly as beds currently exist.
Metal edging requires minimal maintenance—annual re-edging on lawn side to keep grass trimmed back (5-10 minutes), occasional inspection for loose stakes needing attention, and maybe straightening if sections shift from frost or impacts. Plastic edging needs similar care plus eventual replacement after 5-10 years when UV exposure and age cause brittleness. Stone borders require most maintenance—resetting shifted stones every few years, filling gaps, and ensuring barriers under stones prevent grass penetration. All edging types benefit from annual attention during spring cleanup when you can address any minor issues before they become problems. The maintenance required is dramatically less than maintaining beds without permanent edging, which need constant re-edging and grass control throughout growing season. Even highest-maintenance edging (stone) requires less annual effort than a few weeks of managing beds without any edging at all.
Stop fighting grass encroachment and blurred bed borders. Professional garden bed edging from Greenlawn Inc creates the clean, defined landscape you want with dramatically reduced maintenance compared to beds without permanent borders. Our 39 years serving Ellicott City and Howard County means we understand exactly how to install edging that lasts through Maryland's freeze-thaw cycles and delivers the professional appearance your landscape deserves.
Whether you prefer sleek metal edging that virtually disappears, budget-friendly plastic borders, traditional stone, or integrated paver systems, we provide expert installation using quality materials and proper technique. Our detailed consultation helps you select ideal edging for your property's style, your budget, and your maintenance preferences. Many Columbia homeowners report that adding professional edging was the single upgrade that most improved their landscape's appearance.
Expert edging installation for lasting beauty and easy maintenance
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Trusted by Howard County families since 1986
Family Owned • Quality Materials • Professional Installation
About Greenlawn Inc: Since 1986, Greenlawn Inc has provided professional garden bed edging installation and maintenance services to homeowners throughout Ellicott City, Columbia, and Howard County, Maryland. Our experienced team installs metal, plastic, stone, and paver edging with proper technique that ensures lasting results, creating clean borders that enhance landscape appearance while dramatically reducing ongoing maintenance.