STIHL tip
For long, hot summer months, it is helpful to protect your sloping garden from drying out. You should therefore plan to include plants that need little water right from the start so that you can save water.
Plan, create and design a sloping garden
A sloping garden can be a real triumph for a garden owner if planned and deigned properly. Let our tips inspire you!
05.03.2025
Overview: creating and designing a sloping garden
- Blend your hillside garden harmoniously into its surroundings or terrace it stylishly
- Whether steep or gentle, gardens on a slope can be stabilised with stones and plants in many different ways
- Only with the right plant selection will your sloping garden bloom beautifully
- From modern to Mediterranean – we have put together four design ideas for a sloping garden just for you
You can stabilise a slope in the garden by means of supporting walls or rocks, for example. Large and small boulders, woven fences, seeded grass blankets, rolled turf and ground-covering shrubs and perennials are also excellent options for stabilising sloping ground.
In principle, you can plant any bulbs, summer flowers, perennials, herbs, vegetables or woody plants on a slope – how the plants thrive depends primarily on whether they are planted in a location that suits their needs.
You can use stones such as clinker, brick, natural stone and concrete stone (plant rings, verge stones), boulders, rocks and L-shaped stones for stabilising earth slopes. Gabions (metal baskets filled with stones) are also a wonderful option.
Yes, you can create a herb and vegetable garden on a slope. It is important that the plants are terraced in such a way that they get sufficient light and that the soil is suitable for the plants.
A sloping garden has many niches and facets.
What makes a sloping garden special?
A sloping garden is a garden that sits on a natural slope or has been designed to decline along an angle.
With clever planting, hillside gardeners are rewarded with a terraced garden which includes wonderful viewpoints and hidden nooks which are connected to each other via paths and steps.
The right selection of plants transforms a hillside garden into a lively feelgood oasis.
How design works on a slope
Without doubt, planning, creating and landscaping a sloping garden is more complex and usually also more expensive than designing on a level plot – but it’s worth the extra effort. A sophisticated sloping garden, which seems to blend naturally into its surroundings, surely dazzles like the unique gem it is.
Skilfully and safely terracing a garden on a slope
Sculpting of the terrain is the strongest design tool in a sloping garden because it creates a new relief profile, with areas at different heights. Supporting walls are one effective means of stabilising the slope. They secure clear terracing on steep plots and can lend a nicely structured framework to less steeply sloping gardens.
A hillside garden brings nature to your doorstep.
A white-flowering feverfew is an eye-catching plant in the garden.
Decorative walls and stones are a great idea when designing sloping gardens.
Water features such as the lily pond can greatly add to a sloping garden.
Terracing with irregularly graduated levels gives a much more exciting effect than a sloping garden with a uniformly monotonous arrangement. It is important to ensure that there is a balanced ratio between the excavated level and the wall height on every terrace.
As an alternative to supporting walls, you can also use imposing rocks, large and small boulders, woven fences, seeded grass mats, rolled turf and ground-covering shrubs and perennials to stabilise steep and shallow slopes.
Making use of the different levels of a slope
There are many different design ideas for sloped gardens that utilise the different levels of the slope in a variety of ways. It makes sense to think carefully in advance about what purpose the arrangement or planting of each level on a slope serves. Take your time with this, as retrospectively reversing decisions about terrace dimensions on a slope is usually very costly.
Anything is possible with the right planning: a large paved terrace with a view, a manicured floral retreat under a leafy canopy – no problem! Alternatively, you could equip your hillside garden with a pool, vegetable or herb garden in integrated raised beds or simply cover the slopes and steps with lush green lawn or flower meadow.
What’s more, a sloping garden is perfect for a natural stream or a formal water channel, where the water splashes as it travels downhill – and perhaps even flows into a pond.
Clever routing in a hillside garden
If their design is well-thought-out, paths can not only safely guide visitors’ footsteps through the sloping garden, but also their gaze, so they experience a distinct perspective.
A path through a hillside garden invites you to explore.
Paths that are too long and directly visible on a slope often appear monotonous. Winding paths, on the other hand, blend in better visually and are much more exciting, as they change direction and ascend and descend at a gentle gradient. Ideally, you can incorporate irregular curves and plants of differing heights at the end of a path to pique curiosity before the next bend in your hillside garden.
The width of paths is determined primarily by their intended use. Main paths should give two people enough space to walk comfortably next to each other. A maximum width of 1.25 metres is sufficient for these paths.
Paths that will be used less frequently and are less important can be narrower. 30 centimetres is adequate for small paths which explore remote corners of the garden.
All levels are connected by steps and ramps
Garden paths can be quite steep, but from an incline of around 18 percent, it is better to plan steps or a ramp. Whether curved or straight, wide or narrow, each set of steps invites discovery of a sloping garden from a different perspective.
Another great sloped garden idea is a ramp. Adding a ramp to your sloping garden will make it much more accessible. For wheelchair users, the gradient should be no more than 6 to 10 percent; for a wheelbarrow a maximum of 20 percent. A robotic lawnmower can handle gradients even up to 60 percent. It is also easy to install the STIHL iMOW yourself. Our guide to mowing on slopes offers lots of handy tips for mowing on inclines.
Planting slopes: ideas
Your sloping garden will give you years of enjoyment if you choose plants that feel at home there. The microclimate on the individual terraces plays a major role here, but of course the soil quality is also key. It is best to first plan the permanent framework of trees and shrubs. These plants set the tone for your sloping garden, creating shade and privacy.
Enjoy our design ideas for planting steep or slightly inclined garden slopes with these beautiful pictures:
The Japanese dogwood offers graceful growth.
Alyssum saxatilis is a bee-friendly spring perennial.
Aquilegia looks beautiful, though it is slightly toxic.
Classic purple allium prefers a sunny site.
Clustered spikes of flowers are a distinctive feature of the foxglove.
Lady’s mantle is a versatile medicinal plant.
Foxgloves are beautiful to look at, but toxic.
Rose bushes exude a wonderful fragrance.
Lamb’s ear keeps its leaves even in the cold season.
Bowman’s root is native to Canada and the USA.
Using a mix of different growth habits, leaf structures and flower colours will ensure a lively interplay in your flowerbeds. Perennials, grasses and herbs should be planted in multiple round mounds and strips. A wild mess of individual plants is not good for the overall appearance of the garden.
Perennials and woody plants is one of many planting approaches for securing a slope. These spread out like carpets on the slope, protecting the soil in your hillside garden from erosion and radiating a certain tranquillity. These groundcover plants are particularly suitable for garden areas on slopes that are difficult to access.
Ideas for a sloping garden: Four stylistic directions
Sloping gardens and residential buildings should generally blend harmoniously in terms of appearance. The materials used for walls, steps and paths significantly shapes the appearance of a hillside garden. To present you with some appropriate design options, we have put together four hillside garden ideas for you – from modern to Mediterranean.
Nature-inspired hillside gardens are based on the idea of providing a refuge for native plants and animals. They are a thoughtful mix of laissez-faire and deliberate design. Drystone walls, cobblestones, rustic wooden steps and naturalistic water sources characterise the overall appearance of a semi-natural hillside garden.
Naturalistic planting takes up a lot of space in such a hillside garden and requires little maintenance: for example a wild-growing hedge that becomes a sanctuary for birds, or a patch of meadow. Homely perennials and trees, fruit trees and medicinal herbs dominate the beds. In between you can plant annual flowers such as marigolds, foxgloves and rose bushes, which will ramble around the garden.
A modern hillside garden is one thing above all: an extended living space. It is striking for its clean lines, smooth surfaces and sleek design. The look in this sloping garden is created by cubic concrete blocks, bizarre rocks and supporting walls made of concrete or gabions, which protrude into green lawn or a low-key, easy-care planting scheme. There is a uniform colour concept with lots of green and distinctive leaf structures.
Water is integrated into the design of the modern sloping garden in the form of pools and formal basins. Wooden decking and high-quality paved terraces invite you to linger.
A country house-style sloping garden is brought to life by its exuberant blossoms. However, this concept is always based on a clear, often geometrically composed spatial layout delineated by supporting walls, paths and steps. Precisely installed bricks or natural stones, but also gravel, determine the architectural framework of a country house-style sloping garden.
High-quality features such as terracotta pots, sundials, glass flowerbed ornaments and obelisks make perfect finishing touches for the country house look. Climbing plants such as roses and clematis, as well as flowering plants such as panicle hydrangea are typical plants for this garden type. Larkspur, asters, lady’s mantle, phlox, daylily and many more romp in the flowerbeds.
Mediterranean flair radiates throughout this hillside garden, which houses varied, low-maintenance gravel gardens between walls and paths made of light, irregularly shaped natural stone. Mediterranean cypress, aromatic Mediterranean herbs such as lavender and santolina, plus spectacular gourmet vegetables such as Tuscan kale or artichoke transport southern charm right to your door. Bright climbing plants and summer flowers in terracotta planters add the perfect finishing touches to your dream of the South.
