There are many points to consider when planting terraced beds: the materials used for the walls, the ideal plants to the conditions generated and the equilibrium of their plantings in relation to the hardscaping. By getting the plantings right, not only can we appreciate the cosmetic benefits, but we could also stop the hardscaping from becoming too sensitive or dormant.

Terracing has historically been the best way to deal with slopes, which can be difficult and even dangerous to keep. A terraced landscape is created by building a set of retaining walls, allowing space for flat beds or lawns. From brick and stone to traditional gardens to cement, metal and railroad ties for contemporary landscape designs, we’ve got a broad choice of materials to make retaining walls, however the plantings are everything could definitely add style to the terrace.

Harmony Design Group

Traditional terraced gardens have a tendency to signify the planting style of the general backyard or kind of the home. Mixed plantings of shrubs and perennials generally found in traditional plantings not only offer year-round color and interest, but also soften hard outlines of stonework.

The real joy, however, of these raised beds is that the plants have been brought up to eye level.

This manner of planting could be reasonably large upkeep, however, particularly with the inclusion of herbaceous perennials that require attention during the growing season. Because of this, the walls displayed here are reduced, and the terraced beds are are stored broad in order to carry out maintenance safely.

Versa-Lok Retaining Wall Systems

By dividing these terraced beds with broad steps and landings, the issue of care was overcome. The random patterns generated in the stone walls and the paving are almost duplicated in the tapestry planting inside the elevated beds.

Different-size beds accommodate both large and small plants without a great deal of competition.

Colors Of Green Landscape Architecture

More frequently in contemporary gardens, hardscaping can be the overriding design feature, as with these simple concrete retaining walls.

The plantings are used to emphasize the clean lines of their walls. Grasses can be ideal to achieve this. The Festuca grasses used here become low-maintenance floor covers as they expand, requiring minimal irrigation or tending.

Secret Gardens

In certain ways this terrace design is quite much like the prior one, with its own white retaining walls almost dominating the backyard. But I feel there’s a very clear difference in the planting. The powerful architectural contours of the plants equilibrium the entire design — that the plantings are more than simply a fill-in.

See more of the terraced Sydney backyard

WA Design Architects

Once more we view grasses used as a terraced ground cover, but here they’re used to soften the uncompromising Cor-Ten steel retaining walls. The height and colour of the grasses are perfectly in harmony with all the rust finish of the steel.

Ornamental grasses can be a good plant choice, as terraces can drain freely, but the selection is significant; select those that are happy to survive in existing states.

D-CRAIN Design and Construction

Again Cor-Ten steel is the material choice for the walls of the terraced backyard.

The glaucous coloring of the succulents contrasts nicely with the alloy, and the plants are ideal for dry states. The gravel mulch helps drainage and prevents water flow while providing a fantastic textural contrast against the plantings and steel.

SHKS Architects

One of the real benefits of terracing is how it links the house to the backyard as well as to the shapes of the scene. While it’s vitally important that the size and height of the retaining walls have been in equilibrium with the house and garden, it’s just as essential that the plantings do not overpower the hardscape.

The exact plantings in this terraced front garden link all the beds of differing height and size since they have exactly the same colour and tone.

Matarozzi Pelsinger Builders

The same ideas on integrated planting design are used in this enclosed backyard, with green as the predominant foliage colour. The reduced retaining walls echo the Mediterranean classic remedy for a sloping site. The flat beds direct the eye out, creating the illusion of their backyard being wider than it’s while offering usable space.

The terraced plantings are minimalistic on the lower levels, with manicured lawn stepping up to a line of decorative grasses — the entire creating the theatre to the living wall in the back of the backyard.

Samuel H. Williamson Associates

Using tall, loosely foliaged bamboo makes it possible for these plantings to reach from lower levels to the heights of their surface retaining wall. The plan is simple yet quite powerful.

More: Terraces Beckon the High Life

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