Benefits Of Retaining Walls: Providing A Stage For Your Spring Flowers And Bulbs

Retaining walls are typically added for structural reasons - holding back an unstable slope

, for instance, or creating a flat space where family members can play. However, the fact that retaining walls are practical in nature doesn't mean that they can't also add beauty to your yard. Indeed, to a landscape designer, barren retaining walls are like wasted canvases. This article explores why retaining walls create excellent planting zones. This leads into a discussion on the best plant specimens to plant in your wall. We wrap things up with a list of retaining wall design tips.

Retaining Walls and Spring Bulbs: Bringing the Beauty to Eye Level

Landscape designers emphasize the importance of including various vertical elements in a garden. For instance, hanging baskets provide variety to an otherwise ground level landscape design. By their very nature, retaining walls offer a vertical variation that's especially pleasing for passersby. Oftentimes, retaining walls are built to pedestrians' waist. This is the ideal height for plantings, since it is flowers bloom at eye level with this setup.

Many owners of retaining walls line them with spring bulbs, which are low-maintenance and perennial, meaning that they will bloom every year. Daffodils, snowdrops, tulips, and blooming alliums are a few of the most popular choices for retaining wall bulb plantings, but nearly any spring bulb will shine in this zone. We recommend choosing tones that will flatter your home's exterior.

Retaining Walls and Trailing Plants: Creating Cascades of Flowers

Another approach for landscaping retaining walls is to select flowers that naturally grow in a trailing fashion. Plants such as cascading petunias love to grow down retaining walls. Read on to discover some of our favorite cascading species for retaining walls. Just be sure that you consider sun and soil preferences when selecting species for your yard.

Sedum plants feature flashy stems and leaves. This family of plants is hardy, easy to grow in the Pacific Northwest, and available in a variety of shapes and heights. We love sedum because they offer year-round interest.

Trailing Rosemary, AKA Rosmarinus Officinalis is an incredibly useful plant. Like sedum, it adds year round beauty. But this landscape superstar is also an excellent culinary herb. And it repels pests such as mosquitoes with its distinctive scent.

Aubrieta Deltoidea is a profuse bloomer that appears to be covered in purple or other colors of flowers in spring. Phlox, lobelia, and nasturtium are other lovely cascading flowers.

Nasturtium, phlox and trailing lobelia also look great when cascading down retaining walls.

How to Create Dazzling Retaining Walls

Really, species selection is like the icing on the cake - creating a gorgeous retaining wall landscape begins at the design stage. Here are a few tricks landscape architects use to build lovely retaining walls.

1. Emphasize the Corners. Planters, lanterns, and other decorative touches add distinction to any retaining walls.

2. Don't Avoid Curves or Terraces. Get creative with the shape of your retaining wall. It's possible to build curved walls, which are fascinating for the human eye. If your whole property is sloped, adding step-down terraces supported by several levels of retaining walls will create more usable planting areas in your yard.

3. Built-in Seating and Flower Pots. Benches and built-in planting troughs may be incorporated in the retaining walls themselves for a sleek, put-together look.

by: Dave C. Nichols

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