Retaining Wall Planter Ideas

Cascades of Color

• Hide the look of your retaining wall by planting a variety of cascading plants and flowers. Mix three types of plants to achieve year-round interest. Plants such as lobelia, aubretia and ivy geranium provide excellent color variety. Trumpet vine and fuchsia offer dramatic color as well as form. Look to strawberries, cucumbers or squash to provide not only visual interest as they cascade down your wall, but the added benefit of fresh fruit or vegetables for your dinner table.

Bushes

• Bushes can add visual interest and form to a retaining wall planting area. Dwarf evergreens such as dwarf blue spruce, juniper or lodgepole pine give a finished look that lasts year-round. Deciduous bushes such as the boxwood or dogwood provide greenery during spring, summer and fall, but will lose their leaves for the winter months.

Covered in Green

• Look to the green plants to cover unsightly walls while providing a background that can enhance other aspects of your landscape. Plants such as ivy, yellow thyme, trailing rosemary and creeping juniper provide shades of green that can last throughout the season. Add tall plants and flowering bushes to the base of the retaining wall, allowing the green background to fade while the more-dramatic additions to your garden flourish.

Uniquely Yours

• Your landscape design should reflect your personality. Include the retaining wall in your plans and make use of the terraces or solid straight lines, making them a part of your garden. For example, add a water feature to the top edge of the retaining wall and allow the water to cascade over the wall, giving you a solid sheet of water or a waterfall look down a terraced area. To finish the look, add plants and flowers that will enhance the water feature.