When using retaining walls for landscaping, the only limit is your imagination. They add functionality and stability to your landscape, and are great for a huge variety of landscaping projects. Staircases, gated entryways, raised garden beds, and water features are easy to achieve with a natural rock retaining wall.
When considering different hardscaping ideas for your backyard or front yard, it’s important to think about your property’s natural terrain and your location’s climate. Here are several ideas below on how to use retaining walls for landscaping projects.
Landscape Retaining Wall Ideas
- Create an outdoor dining area, fire pit, or a cozy outdoor conversation nook by building a curved rock retaining wall in your backyard.
- Add a pathway or rock stairway using retaining wall blocks, then add some greenery by incorporating raised flower beds.
- Break up a boring lawn with raised planting beds that cut back on lawn maintenance, or create multilevel plantings with a terraced retaining wall.
- Include benches in your retaining wall by either designing the entire wall to function as seating, or incorporate built-in benches at certain spots.
- Minimize erosion by building several terraces of retaining walls onto your sloped yard to make the landscape more accessible.
For more inspiration, check out this list of 22 other retaining wall ideas.
Do You Need Landscape Fabric Behind A Retaining Wall?
Having the proper backfill behind your retaining wall is a critical step to prevent the wall from crumbling. Without proper water drainage, increased water pressure can quickly build up behind a retaining wall, leading to structural failure.
Gravel is one of the best backfills to use because it allows water to drain through when used in conjunction with a drainage pipe. When using sand as your backfill material, it’s generally recommended to use landscape fabric in this situation. This helps prevent sand from leaking between the rocks.
Looking For A Retaining Wall Contractor In Spokane?
At NW Rock N Dirt, we’ve been building rock retaining walls in Spokane for over 23 years. Need a retaining wall installer or rock for your retaining wall? We’ve got it all! Stone retaining walls add beauty and function to your property, and when done properly, can last a lifetime. Our boulder retaining walls are easy to maintain and can increase the value of your residential property. Call us today to get your free estimate!
Want to learn more about rock retaining walls? Check out Rock Retaining Walls 101 next!