Drainage is always the number one consideration when living on a hill. All design solutions need to include draining water away from important structures or fixtures that could flood or rot due to the presence of water. This may require heavy equipment for extensive rough grading and/or fine hand grading of the site to implement the design. Beyond that, there are numerous creative ideas for landscaping slopes. Waterfalls, retaining walls, terraced walls, multi-level decks, rock gardens, planted slopes and natural stairways are all engaging ways to include slopes into your landscape design plan. Scroll over the photos below to learn more about our design challenges and solutions to slopes in the landscape.
View portfolios of slope installations.
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Steep Slope - Terrace Walls If you have a steep slope and you don't want to look at a massive wall from your window, terrace the walls and plant a garden.
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Terracing slopes with walkways Living on a hillside creates great opportunities for traversing walkways and landings with slope gardens and stairways.
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Slope Cut-Throughs Here we've creatively used stones found on the property to build an informal staircase on a short steep slope between two levels.
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Pond & Waterfall The current owners unearthed an existing pond as a weekend project. We cleaned it up and completed it with a beautiful waterfall. Windows are opened during the summer season to listen to the sounds of cascading water.
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Pond & Waterfall A previous slope covered with ivy and Japanese knotweed was transformed into a water garden including cascading ferns, giant hostas, bleeding hearts, dwarf azaleas, spring bulbs and erosion control ground covers.
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Pond & Waterfall
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Pond & Waterfall (View of slope before waterfall) Ivy covered with Japanese knotweed slope.
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Slope After Planting This slope was covered with hostas, lamiastrum and ajuga ground covers for erosion control.
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Slope After Planting (Close-up) Slope is back-dropped by the running waterfall.
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Planted slope (Before view) This slope was slowly cleared of ivy and Japanese knotweed.
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Slope to Patio (after) The mild slope on this site was graded for two level use. The lower level patio is used for family dining and relaxing and is surrounded with shade and woodland shrubs and perennials. (Patio and plants are newly installed)
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Slope to Patio (Before showing gentle slope) There is a grade on this site which is actually steeper than it looks. We graded for two levels and built a tree well with recycled stone from the property.
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Slope to Patio (walkway view - tree well shown) The walkway is dotted with two sets of stone slab steps to add contrast with the man-made pavers . The left over spaces are planted with drought tolerant woodland shrubs and perennials. (newly planted)
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Slope to Patio (Before View)
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Terrace Walls If you want to create a functional space on a slope, terracing is one way to add gardens below. There is an outdoor room not visible, with the upper terrace used to house a BBQ and the lower terraces for garden planting.
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Driveway Slope (Before and cleared for planting) This slope was planted as a garden and edged with boulders to hold back eroding soil and mulch while plants establish.
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Driveway Slope (After) Planted with erosion control shrubs and ground covers, the slope beautifies an otherwise dreary asphalt driveway. The boulders keep the snowplows in check and soften the edges.
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Driveway Slope (Grand Staircase View) Stairs can be used to circulate quickly between upper and lower levels of slopes. These extra large natural stone slab steps are softened with erosion control plants cascading over their edges inviting them into the landscape.
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Driveway Slope (Slope Edge View) Most slopes need an edge at the bottom to retain sliding mulch and soil from the level beneath. Boulders are an informal edge which add texture and a natural border.
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Slope Cut-Throughs Informal steps can be used to bridge small areas which get worn by pedestrians cutting through between two levels.
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Slope Paths (Before) You can retain steep areas of slopes to create pathways. Walls create lovely edges and walking up a gentle slope is a romantic garden luxury.
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Slope Path (After) Make sure you plant drought tolerant plants when you plant on a slope because the water run-off makes for a dry soil.
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Steep Slope (Before) Many mountainsides are "cut" to make way for town-house and condominium developments. There is usually a very steep slope on the back side of the property and in some cases the developer will spring for a wall. In this case they did not.
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Shady Steep Slope (After) Plant loving homeowners preferred greenery to a stone wall so we planted the steep side of the slope with leucothoe and mountain laurels.
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Bowl or Concave Slopes The developers left the homeowners with five evergreens planted in the middle of the slope surrounded by yards of mulch!
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Bowl Slopes or Concave Slopes Barren eroding slope.
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Steep slope (After) Terrascapes added rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas and weeping grasses to add texture and interest to the barren space. Erosion control ground covers were used to hold the soil. A dwarf Japanese Maple was planted as a focal point in the bowl. (Hard to see but it's there!)
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Bowl or Concave Slope Slope planted with hostas and weeping grasses.
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Steep slopes After a season or two.
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Slope Cut Throughs Where there is a slope between two functional levels of a property, there is usually a cut through pattern. It is best not to ignore circulation patterns and formalize the pathway.
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Slope Cut Throughs (After) A gentle staircase of recycled property stone replaced the worn ivy path between parking levels.
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Slope Staircase (Opposite View)
Call today for a consultation on
structuring slopes as part of your landscape design.
Terrascapes Landscape Design
Telephone: 781-449-1788
info@terrascapeslandscapedesign.com