Victorian garden edging tiles

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.

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.

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

[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."

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

By 1870 edging tiles were being offered in a wide variety of decorative designs, including arches, ovals, circles, stars, diamonds, and scrolls. Many featured floral and botanical patterns, often the lily or the acanthus leaf. Edging tiles also were produced in a great variety of sizes, colors, and glazes. From 1870 to 1890, when they were in greatest demand, their designs often reflected prevailing styles in architecture and art, among them the Gothic revival (see Pls. VIII-X) and rustic styles (see P1. III). The latter evolved from the English picturesque garden movement and remained popular throughout the nineteenth century In addition to edging tiles, the rustic style influenced the design of summerhouses, benches, fences, gates, and arbors. A number of tiles incorporated sweeping curves reminiscent of the art nouveau style (see P1. IV). In some instances symbols of national pride were also used, among them the English rose, Irish shamrock, and Scottish thistle

Edging tiles were generally made of fired earthenware with a transparent glaze, producing a smooth, nonporous surface that could withstand the effects of weather. Glazed tiles proved particularly useful in kitchen ganlens, not only because they were resistant to snails and slugs, but because they were less expensive to maintain than dwarf box hedges.

In addition to country gardens, tiles were also commonly used to edge walks and gardens of city houses, but were seldom found on the grounds of large country estates, where they were inappropriate in size and scale. Moreover, their use by the average gardener diminished their value as a status symbol among the elite.

A limited number of edging tiles were made for parks, squares, plazas, and institutional structures. They were usually larger and more limited in design than those employed for residential purposes (see Pls. XVIII-XX). Decorative corner posts were frequently used in conjunction with these larger tiles.

Tiles were produced by potteries in Leeds, Newcastle, and northern Staffordshire, and particularly at factories around Manchester and Birmingham that also produced bricks, roof tiles, and chimney pots. Tiles produced in Staffordshire frequently exhibit a distinct blue-gray color resulting from the composition of clays indigenous to the region (see Pls. V-VII). Unfortunately, little documentation survives regarding the production or design of these tiles by manufacturers.

Critics of edging tiles claimed they were difficult to keep upright and in a straight line and were concerned about their durability. One of the most outspoken was William Robinson (1838-1935), a respected Irish gardener who came to London in 1861 to join the staff of the Royal Botanic Garden in Regent's Park Robinson's most vocal attack on the use of garden tiles appeared in 1870:

Pottery edging are enough to spoil the prettiest garden ever made, and are as much at home round a country seat as a red Indian at a mild evening party. Looking at them as they are carefully arranged by exhibitors in one or two of our public gardens, you may possibly think they are clean, symmetrical, and everything to be desired. But when brought home and arranged round the borders their true charms begin to display themselves. Being all of an exact pattern they must be arranged so as to look quite straight in the line. If they wobble about, one this way and one that, the line is not agreeable, even granting that the things themselves are tolerable. It is difficult to 'set' them easily and cheaply, so that they will remain erect.... They are also often of a texture that cracks into small pieces with the first frost, though there are some mitch more tenacious. The expense in the first instance is heavy and one way or another they become unsatisfactory, till there is no tolerating them any longer, and they are thrown by with the old iron or the oyster-shells.

While tremendously popular in England for more than seventy years, edging tiles were seldom used in other European countries except France. The ones produced in the Normandy region of France were similar to those made in England, while those made in other parts of France were generally term-cotta. In the United States, Victorian English edging tiles appear to have been used chiefly in Savannah, Georgia. Unlike most cities in the South, Savannah was spared the destructive effects of the Civil War by surrendering to the Union Army in 1864. Thus the city was able to maintain a strong economic base, and continued to import fashionable objects from England, including edging tiles, which were used to edge the beds of Savannah's small parterre gardens. Over time, they were also used instead of marble, which was both expensive and difficult to obtain during the later nineteenth century, in several of the city's cemeteries (notably Bonaventure and Laurel Grove; see PL XXVII) to edge graves and burial plots. Other cem eteries in southern coastal towns where garden tiles are known to have been used in a limited fashion include Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina; Saint Helena Cemetery in Beaufort, South Carolina; Saint Andrew's Cemetery in Darien, Georgia; and Saint Peter's Cemetery in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

By the late nineteenth century a small number of edging tiles were being produced in potteries in Milledgeville, Macon, and Columbus, Georgia, largely in basket-weave and sunburst patterns (see Pls. XV-XVII). Examples can frequently be found today in the Georgia towns of Washington, Greensboro, Sparta, and Eatonton. Like the English tiles, they were made of local clay and glazed, although in general they lack the craftsmanship and variety of designs of their imported counterparts.

Edging tiles were seldom promoted by nineteenth-century garden writers in the United States, probably because by the twentieth century a new style of gardening had emerged. This was characterized by open lawns, foundation plantings, informal groupings of trees and shrubs, and a limited use of geometrical or symmetrical flower beds.

With a growing interest in garden history a greater public awareness and appreciation of Victorian garden edging tiles will, I hope, develop, leading to the preservation of these garden antiques.

(1.) John Claudius Loudon, An Encyclopcedia of Gardening... (London, 1834), p. 996.

(2.) Jane Loudon, Gerdening for Ladies; and Companion to the Flower Garden (London, 1843). p. 197.

(3.) J. C. Loudon, The Suburban Gardener, and Villa Companion (London, 1838), pp. 58--59.

(4.) Journal of the Horticultural Society of London, vol. 7 (1852), pp. 228--229.

(5.) Jane Loudon, The Amateur Gardener's Calendar, rev. and ed. William Robinson (London, 1870), pp. 82--83.

JIM COTHRAN is vice president of planning and the landscape architecture divisions at Robert and Company in Atlanta. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.