Round landscape edging

Hi All,
Am looking for pre cast light weight circular edging to aid me in creating landscape effects.
My idea is to add both sunken and raised gravel filled & topped areas instead of mulch to create open spaces between plants. Anyone have any idea where say 36" by 6" deep or greater diameter rings might be found? I realize this might be a stretch..... But that's how we gardeners dream.
Thanks in advance,
Mark

You can use a flexible plastic barrier, or pavers made for this purpose. They have slightly shaped edges, to fit well in a circle. I would strongly encourage you to not use gravel. In the long run, it's a lot more work, difficult to garden in/around, catches more weed seeds, hard to keep clean of discoloring debris, and has no benefit to plants at all.

Hi Mark,
I thought these links from google might be helpful for ideas.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=526&q=round+garden+beds&oq=round+garden+beds&gs_l=img.12..0.5438.12532.0.14657.17.10.0.7.7.0.343.1045.7j1j0j1.9.0....0...1ac.1.23.img..1.16.1218.vAOgHlaIv98#bav=on.2,or.&fp=bcade6afb12c1136&hl=en&q=circular+garden+beds&sa=1&tbm=isch

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1016&bih=445&q=round+garden+beds&oq=round+garden+beds&gs_l=img.12..0.5016.10281.0.12219.17.10.0.7.7.0.47.314.10.10.0....0...1ac.1.23.img..0.17.455.PeKRCKe9BRk

Yes, yes, this gives me inspiration & something to "build" on.
Thank you for the links....

Hi again,
I just tried clicking on the first link and for some reason it wasn't working so I decided to post it again, just in case it wasn't working for you either.


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=526&q=circular+garden+beds&oq=circular+garden+beds&gs_l=img.12..0.2235.8453.0.10828.20.16.0.4.4.0.47.470.16.16.0....0...1ac.1.23.img..0.20.564.30y8ZmHOfQg

Look in stores that sell brick and other materials for masons. They may have things that would work.
In general the 'Big box store' products that create this effect are not really great. They are not very stable, they tend not to stay in place over time. Each individual piece is too small, too lightweight to be stable.

I would prefer to suggest header board (synthetic, aluminum or wood)
or rocks, lined up and partially buried for stability, or properly installed gravity block retaining wall materials.

Here is a link to one of the aluminum products:
http://www.permaloc.com/products/cleanline.html

... and one of the synthetics:
http://www.epicplastics.com/bend-a-board.html

...and the gravity block wall material:
http://www.versa-lok.com/products/residential-commercial/mosaic

These happen to be the materials I have used, there are many competing products.
What I would look for:

Good strong support system. Long stakes, for example. (We use 12" redwood stakes for the benda-board)
Large enough material to do the job. If you want some of the material exposed, then get the taller product (6") then bury half of it. This would give you about 3" showing. If you need more than that think "retaining wall" not 'headerboard', and the gravity block wall or a dry stack rock wall are the way to go.

Real rocks can make a less formal looking border. They can be very stable. Installation is a bit harder, but then they do not come loose! Look for rocks that are about twice the diameter as the height you need above ground, but 25 lb minimum. Bury half the rock. Go to a rock yard and practice stacking up some stone. If you start with flat pieces like flagstone you need to stack up a lot, but the fit is quite good, and they will retain the gravel well. (only bury about 1-2 rocks if you are using flagstone laid flat on itself) If you start with odd shaped rock, or smooth rounded rock it will not retain the gravel so well. There are tricks to making it work! It can be done!

The gravity block walls are even more work to install, but they last practically forever. The basic installation involves laying a bed of gravel below grade and burying half to one block for most not-very tall uses, or more for an engineered wall. The 'cheap' way that some people use them is to get the small material (4-6" wide x 2" tall) from a big box store and simply lay them on the ground. They shift so easily it is ridiculous. If you really think this (cheap) way is for you, do it right:
Prepare a base of at least compacted soil, add some gravel if that is not too much work.
Bury at least half to one block.
Glue the next course in place with construction adhesive.
Make sure the work is plumb, level and square (or true round). Not odd squirrelly lines.