Fiberglass edging--any good?

[Tony]

I'm looking at putting in some sizeable plant beds and need to pick a good edging product. Most of my existing beds are using the black plastic edging. I've tried working with that before, but a lot of the products I've seen use pretty hard plastic and don't give great results.

While wandering around Lowes I saw a product I hadn't seen before--fiberglass edging. It's similar to the metal edging product that has been available for a while, but is made of fiberglass and sold in a roll. I'd imagine many companies sell this, but if you're not familiar with it, a link online to a product of this sort is

question: has anyone used this product before? Is it any good? The area I plan to use it in will have it separate a plant bed and a lawn, so it will get regular trimming using a string trimmer.

Tony

[J Kolenovsky]

To add to the informative state of the post regarding a newer product than in the past, I went by a Ewing location the other day to pick up a piece of 12 gauge steel edging and the sales rep showed me some plastic edging (may have been recycled) that was 1 1/2 X 4". Bends, flexible, strong, painteable, drillable, etc. About a dollar a section less than steel. Was a light green color. =

[Vox Humana]

I just cut a beveled edge around my beds. I run the lawnmower tires along the bevel and it keep everything neat without any extra effort. If you use edging to separate the lawn from the beds you will have to use a string trimmer along the edge. That's going to be a lot of work if you have some "sizable plant beds." Landscaping services have edging machines and can come in and cut the edge for you if you don't want to do it yourself. The machines can cut up to 1200 feet/hour.

[Tony]

I'm guessing that one's success with this strategy would depend on the kind of grass that is used. We have a mix of St. Augustine and Centipede. The centipede is horrible at crawling over edging. I have some heavily mulched, black-rubber-bordered beds. If I don't run a string trimmer on them every couple of weeks during growing season, then I have a tremendous problem with losing the delineation between the grass and the bed.

I'm looking for border that is a bit more attractive and easier to work with than the rubber border. At this point I think I've narrowed it down to either metal or fiberglass edging. The biggest problem I'm finding is locating a local supplier of the fiberglass stuff. Most local supply houses have never heard of it. Only place I've seen it is at Lowe's, and all they had was the 20 foot rolls. I'm probably going to need 170 feet, so I'd much rather buy it in 100 foot rolls (which, at least according to various web sites, it is also sold in).

Tony

[J Kolenovsky]