Landscape Ideas for Yards With a Slope

Walkway and Steps

• It's difficult to appreciate a slope that's too steep to walk up and down safely. Installing a walkway into the slope opens it up to guests and make it easier for you to maintain plants. Build steps into steep sections of the slope or up the entire incline. Create a landing every five to eight steps to give people a rest as they climb. For a slight slope, lay a path in a zig-zag pattern. Lay natural stones, pavers, landscape timbers or a combination of two to build a walkway and steps. Use gravel and sand as a foundation, so the surface is secure and low maintenance.

Retaining Walls

• Erosion is a common problem with slopes. Prevent erosion and add structure to the slope by building retaining walls. For safety, and to satisfy local building codes, retaining walls should be no taller than 3 feet. If your slope extends higher, build multiple tiered retaining walls. Use stones, pavers or timbers to construct the walls, and lean the wall towards the slope 1/2 inch for every foot of height and gravity will help keep the wall stable.

  Line the interior walls with landscape fabric so water can escape through the gaps between stones or timbers, but the soil will remain. Fabric will also deter weeds from growing through the wall.

Plants

• Hardy plants help combat erosion once their root systems develop, and they require little maintenance while adding color and texture to the slope. Plant low-growing evergreen shrubs along the bottom third of the slope to add year-round greenery. Green velvet boxwood and blue chip juniper are examples of shrubs that grow about 2 and 3 feet tall, respectively. Colorful ground covers like moss pink, hostas and pachysandra eliminate the need for mowing when planted in steep sections of the slope. Line the walkway or steps with scented flowers like sweet pea or lily-of-the-valley to stimulate the senses with color and sweet aromas.

Drainage

• Though water will naturally drain from a slope, the land at the base of the slope typically bears the brunt of excess water. Installing a basic drainage system is essential, especially if the base of the slope is near the house. Dig a drainage ditch along the base of the incline to direct water to a street or other drainage area. Place a perforated drain pipe in the ditch and slope it 1/8 inch down for every foot of length. Conceal the ditch with pea gravel so water will travel down, without sticks and other debris. Gravel also provides textural contrast to plants.