Plant Selection Tips for Plantable Retaining Walls

Things to think about:

• Hours of sunlight?(how does it track on the wall throughout the day, creating the need for zones)
• Does the wall site where people will interact with it, such as along sidewalks or on patios?
• Plant eaters/chompers such as rabbits, deer, or pests in your region we have not seen yet?
• Desired maintenance intensity? (fertility needs and ongoing care needs such as trimming)
• Annuals vs. Perennials? (do you want to replant yearly or seasonally?)
• Longevity of Perennials?(plants we sell have lived in our walls for 30+ years but we are used to clients with no desire for constant care)
• Water needs and do you irrigate or not?
• Wall coverage based on mature growth habit of the plants selected? (do you want to see the blocks or not?)
• Pollinator habitat creation? (natives or regional ornamentals)
• How easy are they to plant into the wall pockets (small plugs are easy but you have to wait for growth)

Featured Wall Project Below (Videos):

The larger walls featured below in the YouTube videos were planted with Sedum and Ivy, with accent plants on the tops and sides of the project. To be specific, we selected Sedum kamtchatikum in the two larger walls for its ability to thrive is sun and shade, as well as its drought tolerance, total wall coverage and deer resistance. We selected another Sedum variety called Phedimus for its larger mature size and its ability to take the intensity of the setting sun.

The smaller wall featured below was planted with Baltic Ivy (thorndale variety) due to the dense shade and lack of any direct sun exposure. Ivy can creep on you and end up in lots of unintended places over time. In this case it was well contained in the Varden block wall and can be trimmed on the top and bottom to keep it right where its supposed to be. Over time it will totally cover the wall face and will last for decades with very little care… and the the deer and rabbits will not eat it!

Its a big Country:

There are many plant zones around the nation and in each one there are regional favorite species that DIY lansdcapers and Professionals can count on. You know what you want your plantable retaining walls to look like and local garden centers or landscape designers will be great help in selecting the perfect plants for your wall project. Talk to them all, use AI to get more creative lists and answers, or call us and we will be happy to give you our thoughts. Our team has seen millions of square feet of planted retaining walls and we have plenty to say on the subject!

Plant Selection by The Pros:

One of our professional installation partners in the Atlanta area has built several smaller Varden plantable retaining walls as part of larger scopes of work. Everette Moss of Moss Landscape Design Group has used our tan color blocks and our gray blocks to add significant interest and color to his patio projects. The pictures below are from some of his projects and we are impressed with the work his team produces and their artistic use of plants to bring living color to clients. You can see that they make use of natural stone for patio borders and terraces, but for small retaining walls they make use of lightweight, plantable blocks for interest and they save time and labor. Plant selection is a big part of their success. Their projects have had a variety of sunlight exposures to consider and the results are always fantastic.

We asked Everette to share some of his thoughts on proper plant selection below.

” Quote from Everette here”