Gorgeous Garden Border Designs

Creating a border isn't difficult if you break it down into its basic elements ― lacey fringes, accent colors, layers of short-to-tall plantings, and color echoes.

Curving borders, like this one in Ralph Hasting's Whidbey Island, Washington, garden, are more interesting ― and more complementary with casual landscapes ― than straight-edged ones.

Before planting, test out possible outlines for your border with a rope or hose.

Click ahead for 13 inspiring border designs to get you started.

Combine thyme, oregano, English lavender, and sage for a gorgeous herb border. Once established, these herbs need only little to moderate watering and occasional fertilizing to look good for most of the year in mild climates. Many herbs also help suppress weeds. And best of all, it's right there any time you need to add flavor to your cooking. More: 18 indispensable herbs to grow

“I use ribbons of color—a sort of running stitch—to unify the border,” says designer Gabriela Yariv in her Santa Monica garden. Pink Echeveria ‘Afterglow’ dots the carpet of gray-blue Dymondia margaretae, repeating the hues of the larger plants.

Golden bamboo (Phyllo­stachys aurea) creates a soft green backdrop that doesn’t compete with the sculptural plants in this sunny Santa Monica border.

For an accent: a bronze-tinged ‘Sundowner’ phormium is striking beside an icy blue Agave attenuata ‘Nova’.

Design: Gabriela Yariv Landscape Design (310/458-7250)

Tish Treherne's garden on Bainbridge Island, Washington, features a variety of warm colors that do well in the shade.

Plants like Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame,’ Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’ (foreground) and a grassy Deschampsia flexuosa ‘Aurea’ carry their hues throughout the border for overall harmony.

Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ arches over the top: “I particularly like trees whose bright red or orange fall color floats above blue or chartreuse foliage,” says the designer.

Design: Tish Treherne, Bliss Garden Design (206/799-0897)

A great foliage border gives a garden a rich, layered look that doesn’t depend on flowers for dramatic effect. The key to success: Pick the right blend of shrubs and small trees whose leaves and branches create contrasts in color, texture, shape, and size. To make each plant stand out, set big-leafed plants like this hosta and Gunnera manicata beside fine-leafed ones (like the maidenhair fern and native fairy bells), and spice up a mostly green palette with variegated plants that provide hits of gold, bronze, and purple. More: 12 great foliage border plants

This garden border softens the transition between flagstone hardscaping and a wall, and will be gorgeous throughout the year thanks to good planning. Flowers that bloom over a long season and require only modest amounts of water or time ― isn't that what we all want? Choose the right plants, and you can have vibrant borders from spring through fall. More: Border for three seasons

Borders don't have to be large or complex to have visual impact; just four or five well-chosen plants can work wonders.

Here, a border of purple African daisies, lobelia, sea lavender, and silvery dusty Miller hugs a pool in Scottsdale, AZ.

Design: Graham Smith, Arcadia Studio (602/955-0301)

Red kangaroo paws and yellowish orange alstroemerias brighten a border that curves out into a lawn in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. Garden borders can be very effective for artfully breaking up a large lawn or hardscaped yard and adding visual interest.

Purple fountain grass and other foliage plants create a leafy screen that adds texture in front of a fence or wall. Grasses are also a. wonderful choice for adding fall color without flowers. Design: Proven Winners/EuroAmerican Propagators

This border features two rosy Scotch heathers (Calluna vulgaris ‘Dark Beauty’) and variegated Hebe speciosa ‘Tricolor’. Scotch moss grows between pavers.

Design: Darcy Daniels, Bloomtown Garden Design, Portland (503/331-1783)

More great garden paths

In a curb strip are 'Royal Purple' smoke tree, 'Sapphire' blue oat grass, 'Globemaster' allium, yellow 'Golden Celebration' rose, white 'Iceberg' rose, and Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegatus'.

Orange-red ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ dahlias, ‘Tropicana' canna, and green-leafed 'Pretoria' canna surround an umbrella in Mark Henry's garden in Snohomish, WA.

Red-leafed coleus and yellow-flowered sedum accent a sunny border in Washington state.

Design: Daniel Mount, Seattle (206/679-4759)

In partial shade, heart-shaped hosta leaves contrast with lacy Japanese maple foliage.

Design: Daniel Mount, Seattle (206/679.4759)

Pink sweet William and poppies play off yellow daylilies and silvery lamb's ears in Betty Taylor's Ketchum, ID, border.

More: 3 beautiful planting plans

Line a garden path with herbs and vegetables for fragrance, color, and a delicious harvest all summer. To unify your design, pick a color scheme. We chose chartreuse and purple for this garden plan.

More: Eat your garden border

Adding grasses brings texture, motion, light, and even sound to the garden. More important, grasses are graceful threads that weave all other plants in the garden together, making them look more like family members than a convention of strangers.

More: Designing a garden with gorgeous grasses

Drifts of shorter Shasta daisies play off tall flower spikes of lupines and iris in this garden. Playing with height is but one principle of how to design a balanced border. Plants' needs, as well as leaf texture and color, are other considerations.

More: Mixing plants in borders

A new twist on the pink theme, a border that pairs pink-flowered plants with subtle splashes of gray, green, and maroon foliage is more sophisticated than sweet.

More: Get details & planting plans for this border design

Many herbs and vegetables have especially colorful foliage that look great with flowers and ornamental grasses. In this 8-foot-wide planting, lime green and purple basils determine the color scheme. Use flowers of yellow, orange, and red to play off bold foliage in shades of green.

More: Get details & planting plans for this border design

You don't have to visit the tropics to enjoy jungly foliage and flowers. Just choose the right plants to create a tropical border anywhere in the West. For this 9- by 5½-foot planting, landscape designer Karen Donnelly combined coral, fiery orange, red, and yellow flowers with lime green and deep green tropical foliage. More: Get details & planting plans for this border design