If you have a property with slopes, hills, or elevation of any kind, then you’re already familiar with the frustrations that they can cause.
Slopes can not only detract from a space’s functionality, but they can also negatively impact its aesthetics. Growing plants on slopes can be difficult as well since there’s always the potential for erosion and drainage concerns.
If you’re dealing with sloped landscaping in your Kansas City home landscape, then you’re probably looking for solutions to this troublesome spot that can actually work for you. You certainly don’t want to make a sloped backyard worse.
This is why it’s extremely important for you to find the proper solution to landscaping for a hill by working with a landscape design professional who is experienced in backyard slope ideas. Keep these considerations in mind as you tackle your sloped yard challenges.
Why is Sloped Landscaping Challenging to Work With Properly?
Landscaping for hills can be quite frustrating when it’s what you have to work with in your Kansas City home landscape.
Why? First, the space can seem like it’s completely unusable. It may still require maintenance but ends up having no usable benefit. This can be annoying for you when you want to use a space but can’t figure out how to do it.
Next, naturally sloped landscaping moves water so much differently than a flat space. Depending on the slope angle or direction, hills in your landscape can push water in undesirable directions and toward locations you’d prefer to keep water away from, such as your patio or basement.
Sloped yards also bring safety concerns to your home landscape, increasing falling risks for you, your family members, your kids, and even your pets.
Landscaping Ideas for Sloped Backyards
You certainly don’t have to be scared of your sloped landscaping when planning a backyard design.
There are quite a few smart ways to work around a slope to create an amazing, aesthetically pleasing visual in your yard.
The goal is to capitalize on the landscape design opportunity of increasing function and beauty while solving a problem. Try these 6 backyard slope ideas to get the best of both purpose and a gorgeous space.
1. Try Terraces
Terraces are one way to address sloped landscaping.
These features create a step-down feeling by implementing multiple levels in a hillside space, turning an unusable space into a visibly beautiful one. You can create level spaces with retaining walls or informal stacked boulders. If your site conditions allow, you can also cut into the slope and fill in the void to create a level spot with soil already onsite.
The terrace concept is a great way to target runoff from reaching driveways or walkways, too. Garden beds built at varying levels with pavers, bricks, or stones can be filled with cascading plants and vines on each terrace for stunning visuals that transform slopes.
2. Embrace Retaining Walls
Functional retaining walls can be landscaping ideas for sloped backyards that perform the important tasks of not only holding soil in place but also preventing erosion.
The job of a retaining wall is to both provide a functional and aesthetically pleasing benefit to your Kansas City landscape. By keeping in mind material choice, site accessibility, wall length and height, and drainage solutions, you can have a solid and secure retaining wall that provides structure and manages your slope issues for years to come.
If you want to up the ante on retaining walls, try including built-in benches or storage to enhance multi-functional usage spaces in your yard.
3. Try a Tiered, Cascading Water Feature
You can use sloped landscaping to your advantage and create a tiered, cascading water feature.
Water features can be a wonderful addition to your Kansas City hillside landscape. Your landscape designer can use rocks and builders to build a beautiful, natural-looking waterfall from a higher point on the hill showcasing water flowing down to the bottom.
Surrounding the waterfall with lush green, low plants can create a picturesque backyard scene.
4. Use the Slope as Tiered Seating Around a Fire Pit or Focal Point
You can get creative with sloped landscaping, even if it seems like a burden to manage.
An experienced landscape designer can turn a hillside into tiered seating around a fire pit or landscape focal point to take advantage of the views a slope can offer.
Use the slope as tiered seating around a fire pit or focal point
5. Add a Discreet Package Drop Space
If you have front yard sloped landscaping, you can use the space to add a discreet package drop space so your deliveries are protected.
This is even possible whether a front lawn is sloped or not, but if a front lawn is already sloped, it’s a no-brainer to add discreet package drop spaces.
A package delivery nook can also be incorporated into retaining walls.
6. A Combination of Sloped Landscaping Strategies
You don’t have to limit yourself to just one idea. You can also use a combination of backyard slope ideas to address a hillside on your property.
Maybe one part is more for seating or regular use, while the other part can incororpate terraces full of lush plantings.
No matter how you choose to tackle your slopes, the key is finding a solution that works best for your Kansas City property that doesn’t create further problems for you. Working with a highly skilled landscape design professional who has experience dealing with slopes can provide you with plenty of ideas to consider that will improve your usable, beautiful space.
Making an Informed Sloped Landscaping Decision
Landscaping for a hill can be a complicated outdoor renovation or design project. There is probably much more to consider than you originally thought there would be.
But by working with the right professional on this project, you can get a bevy of ideas and solutions to compare to each other and figure out what would work best for you. Looking at landscaping on slopes or finished projects can also help you see how hillsides have been used and how concerns were addressed.
By choosing the right landscaping solution for your sloped property, you’ll no longer have to worry about mudslides, an unusable and dysfunctional outdoor space, or lack of success with plantings. Instead, you’ll feel confident that you’ve created a long-term solution that makes you forget about your slope aggravations and instead embrace a space that makes you long to be outside.
Ready to see how High Prairie can transform your Kansas City home landscape and slopes with our unique and proven landscape design-build process? We’d love to share our design and installation expertise with you. Get started today with a free consultation. Together, we can prepare a design that you will love and your neighbors will envy
