Outdoor living spaces are for just - outdoor living! And research has backed up, again and again, that spending time outdoors is good for our mental, psychological, and cardiovascular health. And you can't beat the bang for your buck! Landscape Walls Also known as landscape walls, these hardscaping structures can also serve the purpose of adding height and interest to a landscape. Any container built even a few inches off the ground could be considered a retaining or landscape wall. By this definition, you could use them interchangeably with raised beds. Preventing Erosion While preventing erosion is not the only use for a wall, it remains a valuable one. Even your gardens can use small walls to help prevent soil from washing away. By creating a hardscape edge, you can prevent soil and plant loss. Vertical INterest or Heightened Appeal? One of the cardinal rules of landscape design is to create contrast and variety. Generally, there ways to do that are through color, texture, and height. So, adding vertical interest is vital to creating an appealing aesthetic if you have a relatively flat yard. There are numerous ways to do that, including tall trees and mid-size shrubs and boulders. Another less common way is by adding retaining walls. You can build these walls on flat ground and then fill them with whatever flowers and plants you like. Full Control When you build a landscape wall on your property, you don't have to conform to your existing landscape. In a way, all landscaping is terraforming, but when you plant anything, you need to change either to ensure the soil composition is appropriate for what you are planting or to amend the soil to make it so. When you build a raised bed or put your soil behind a wall, that's not true. With your retaining wall, you can start from scratch filling it with the perfect soil for whatever it is you're growing. Fill it With Wonderful Things! Now you can turn your retaining wall into the home for everything you've always wanted to grow but didn't have the soil for. It's the home for a garden that you can turn into artwork, whether the flowers remain contained within or flow down like a cascading waterfall down the walls themselves. The Outside Can Be Pretty Too. As those cascading flowers drip down the wall backdrop, you'll notice what's behind them. So now comes the time when we remind you that your walls don't have to be the dull gray of highway fame. Instead, you can use various hardscaping materials to make your walls as much of a work of art as the flowers they contain.
Step by Step One dynamic way to use your walls is to create tiers. Within these tiers, you can have variations of your garden or something similar in each. Southern Love will help you with your landscape design so you can visualize what we'll create before your plant installation. Sit for a While, Won't You? With steps comes opportunity. You can build seating into your walls, creating more space for guests at your next gathering. That also allows you to sit among your gardens. Retaining Walls Can Be a Beautiful Feature in Your Outdoor Living Space We hope that today we've dispelled the notion that your retaining walls must be boring or that their only purpose is to hold up a hill. Instead, there are many ways that these versatile hardscaping structures can improve your backyard's aesthetic and provide opportunities to entertain.