If a garden design includes a neat and orderly flower display, borders edged with one flower can be stunning. There are many edging plants that will satisfy the gardener's need for a well-ordered display.
Lavender
Lavender is easy growing, but will need cutting back as it can be a bushy plant, prone to shrub-like behavior. It's a superb traditional plant for a border. The gardener only has to brush against and it releases its pungent odor. There are lots of varieties to choose from in various shades of pink, lavender, deep purple and white. It can grow to 20" in some locations and isn't offended when it's cut back. Hardy to Zone 4 for some varieties.
Mother-of-Thyme
Thyme has similar qualities to lavender. It spreads and becomes bushy. This thyme will flower beautifully in mid-summer falling over itself and it is beloved by bees. It, too, can become bushy and doesn't mind being cut back each spring giving it renewed vigor. Hardy to Zone 3.
Nepata Six Hills Giant
Nepata is another herb suitable as a border plant. It grows a little taller to about 24", but would be very useful edging for the drive or a pathway. It sends out purple flowers and dies back to the ground in the fall, leaving only its spent stems behind. New growth begins in the spring and is visible when the dead stalks are cut away. . Bees love this plant and it makes an impressive display. Hardy to Zone 3.
Gypsophila Repens
Gypsophila is a matte-forming plant known as baby's breath. The Repens has pink flowers, grows low to the ground and spreads outwards. The flower is small and delicate and it makes an easy ground cover – perfect for edging a flower border. Don't confuse this with the pink Gypsophila paniculata. The pink paniculata is an unrefined, loosely-flowering plant growing to about 3 feet tall – not a good choice for the border. Hardy to Zone 3.
Creeping Phlox
Phlox is another matte-forming plant. It's available in shades of pink, white and purple and offers the gardener a blast of color in mid-spring, usually just after the tulips have finished flowering. It spreads nicely for easy propagating. Hardy to Zone 3.
Snow-in-Summer
This is a lovely white flowered perennial with silvery green leaves. It makes a good edging plant to a dark green or contrasting background. It spreads easily and forms a thick matte, flowering most of the summer. Hardy to Zone 3
Print References
- English Cottage Gardens, Edward Hyams, Penguin Books, 1987
- Reader's Digest Guide to Creative Gardening, Reader's Digest, 1984
- The Guide to Garden Flowers, Norman Taylor, Houghton Mifflin, 1958
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