How to Landscape a Water Slope

Choose a landscape design based on your yard and your personal preferences. Choose simpler, undecorated swales or drainage channels for a basic approach, and a more conventional look in the rest of the yard. Design a larger swale garden for a marshy, bog-like look, where you can place river rocks at the bottom and plant with water-loving plants.

Dig meandering swales through the wettest part of your yard, where water already natural flows downhill. Dig the swales 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep if you want to create a marshy look, ensuring that the swales drop at least a foot in elevation for every 50 feet downhill.

Direct the bottoms of the swales to empty into a flat area in the garden where you can use the water, or into a storm drain or gutter so that it will run out of the yard.

Install landscape fabric in the bottom of your swales and all the way up the sides. Anchor fabric by piling river rocks in the bottom. Use rocks that will be too large for children to carry away.

For a more decorative look, plant the swale with water-loving plants. Consider rushes, such as common rush (Juncus effuses), hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9, capable of growing in 4 inches of water. Try sedges, such as palm sedge (Carex muskingumensis), hardy in the same zones and also growing in up to 4 inches of water.

Plant the rest of your garden with plants that will anchor topsoil in place. Use groundcovers, such as 6-inch-tall three-leaved stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), hardy in USDA zones 4 through 8, or 12-inch-tall plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides), hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9.