Many people don’t know how to achieve the perfect sloped landscape. The secret is layers. Layers of bushes, trees, shrubs, and flowers. You can have it all because you’ll be looking at it all. Whether your sloped yard is going up or down you will still have to look at it when you go outside. Why not make it something worth looking at?
Say your landscape is slanted downward. You have the opportunity to build a path that leads down to a lower part of your property where you can add a pool, a fire pit, or something else you’ve always wanted. Along this path can be a railing and special lights that help guide you up or down to your destination. As for the sloped yard, small shrubs can be place in a row down the hill to allow for some decoration. It is wise to choose plants that require less attention so you don’t find yourself hiking up and down your landscape in order to take care of each one. If you don’t fancy the stair idea, then stick with retaining walls that along for plant growth up the sides of them. These walls could be made of stone, cement blocks or even wood. You could even have small flower beds at the top of them if you wanted.
However, maybe your sloped landscape is going an upward direction instead of a downward. Retaining walls can still be your best friend and you can still build flower beds on top of them. Say you add a retaining wall and then flatten part of the slope. At this point, you could add in your own fire pit that sits on top of a hill. Then you will be able to look out into the distance and gaze upon your beautiful city.
There are lots of options when it comes to the hilly neighborhoods in southern California. So don’t give up hope!
The project above showcases this newly terraced slope. By using “Alan” block retaining walls above and below the new flow lines, we were able to carve out the area on this native slope and create additional space for the homeowner. It is not only functional and appealing to the eye, it also protects the hillside form erosion when planted with various ground covers.
Below features the access steps created for the slope terrace. Steps were carved into the native slope and permanently anchored with steel spikes. The timbers are pressure treated and have a 15-20 year life expectancy. The terrace was than fenced with rod iron to keep wild life out.
