Victorian garden edging tiles

Magazine Antiques, August, 2003 by Jim Cothran

Among the many materials used to edge walks, parterres, and planting beds in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the most popular was dwarf, or edging, box (Buxus sempervirens Suffruticosa). This dense, slow-growing, evergreen shrub was easy to propagate; it thrived in a variety of growing conditions; and it resisted insects and diseases. Often referred to as Dutch or English box, this popular edging plant was clipped in April and July to maintain the desired height of five to six inches. As late as 1834, John Claudius Loudon's Encyclopoedia of Gardeninq noted that dwarf box was superior to every other edging.

While dwarf box remained in common use throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, by 1843 there are references to the use of tiles as a substitute for box. The earliest of these occurs in Jane Loudon's Gardening for Ladies; and Companion to The Flower Garden:

Edgings are lines of plants, generally evergreen, to separate walks from beds or borders. The plant in most universal use for this purpose in British gardens is the dwarf Box.... Edgings to beds and borders are also formed of other materials, such as lines of bricks, tiles, or states, or narrow strips of stone, or even of wood.. .. Edgings oldies, to be kept securely in their places, should be set in concealed brickwork; otherwise they are apt to get out of place and to have a ragged and temporary appearance. (2)

From all accounts, these early edging tiles were square, rectangular, or semicircular roof tiles of clay or terra-cotta. First used in ancient times in Greece, Italy and Asia Minor, roof tiles were revived during the Renaissance and flourished in England throughout the Victorian era. While roof tiles proved generally satisfactory as edging for walks and planting beds, they were difficult to keep upright. Their use for garden edging was illustrated in John Claudius Loudon's The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion in 1838. (3)

The first known reference to edging tiles specifically designed for garden beds and walks appeared in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society of London in 1852. From all indications, the impetus for their design and production resulted from a plea in a popular English gardening magazine for a garden tile that would be unique in design, inexpensive, durable, and easy to install The account in the Journal of the Horticultural Society of London describes the efforts of Robert Hogg (1818-1897) to design such an edging tile (see Fig. 1):

[My tiles] are composed of the same clay [as inexpensive earthenware] and are manufactured at the same works as the patent hollow bricks, and from what I have seen of them, they appear to become harder on exposure to the weather. Cheapness is another great qualification. They can be supplied in any quantity at 10s. 6d. per 100, or about 1-1/4d. each, each tile being one foot in length. I would also call the attention of the [Horticultural] Society to the mode by which they are secured in their position, although they allow the borders to be cultivated close to them, and any extent of the soil disturbed or removed. The shoe which passes under the walk being covered with four inches of gravel, when that becomes "bound" the tiles are literally immoveable, and no wheelbarrow or roller can displace them. They also afford ample drainage for the walks, and under no pretence whatever do they ever harbor slugs. I have had experience of them for nearly twelve months, and I have found them [to] answer all the purposes a n edging is intended to supply, and that too at more than one-half less than Dwarf box, and nine-tenths less than many other edging.

I call them "Hogg's Edging Tiles for Garden Walks, &c." (4)

In 1859, seven years after Hogg introduced his garden edgers, Messrs. Loomes and Company of Whittlesea advertised their tiles for this purpose in The Floral World and Garden Guide in 1859 (Fig. 2). Smaller and simpler in design than Hogg's, this tile had a decorative top in a so-called cable or rope design. Not only was it attractive and inexpensive, at five pence a running yard, but also it was easy to install and required little or no maintenance. The Loomes tiles measured 7 1/4 inches high by 7 1/2 wide and were made of fired clay that looked like terracotta. After considerable experimentation it was determined that the files could withstand English weather and, as noted in the advertisement, would without doubt "last forever." As the tiles had no sharp points or ragged edges, they were said to pose no danger to the hands of gardeners or the ankles of strollers.

The decorative border of the Loomes tiles was no doubt inspired by the English practice of laying rope and cable along the edge of planting beds. Not only did these materials present a neat appearance, but their flexibility allowed them to be used around curvilinear and geometric beds. Edging tiles with this decorative top were extremely popular in England through the first quarter of the twentieth century (see P1.11).