Slope planting

Varied planting for every slope

Planting on a slope is often a great challenge. The slope does not make it easy to work there, which is why an important criterion for planting is low maintenance. If you have a garden on a slope and are looking for ideas and pictures, you will quickly find what you are looking for here, because the apparently difficult location offers many possibilities for creative planting due to the slope.

Ground cover for shady slopes

A garden on a slope that is also shady is the biggest challenge when it comes to planting. Ideal for slope planting in this case is ivy or evergreens, which are green all year round and cope very well with shade. Evergreens also have the advantage that if they get some light in spring, they even produce beautiful flowers. When planted on slopes, both plants are ground covers that need little care and spread quickly. They do not grow tall and do not need frequent pruning. With different varieties, such as the combination of a white-flowering and a blue-flowering periwinkle, you can also set specific colour accents in a shady location.

Ground cover for sunny locations

Planting on a slope in a sunny location presents the challenge that the plants often have to cope well with prolonged drought. If you are planting on a slope, modern flowering plants are those that have a benefit for insects. Ideal for this are various sedum species such as wall peppercorn. It can colonise extreme sites and you can green a slope without much effort, because sedum species cope well with gravel soils and even prefer them.

If you plant a sunny slope, you can play with colours. The cushion phlox is particularly easy to care for, and when planted on a slope it lays over the soil like a cushion. The cushion phlox is a ground cover that requires no care at all. However, it is not very strong against competitors. If you are planting on a slope, make sure that you combine it at most with varieties that are also weak-growing, such as field thyme.

Colour accents

When planting on a slope, it is fashionable to use specific colour accents. Ground covers can act as a "canvas", which can certainly be colourful in the slope planting, but should then be kept more in one colour. Ideally, when planting a slope, one or more roses should be used to create accents. However, it is preferable to use ground-covering roses that grow taller but branch out more like a bush. They are also easy to care for and need only occasional pruning. Ground-cover roses have the advantage that they also provide food for insects, but are more suitable for planting on a sunny slope. Alternatively, you can also set colourful accents for slope planting in the shade with shrubs that have colourful foliage. For example, creeping spindle, which has golden-yellow coloured leaves, is suitable.

Consider care and growth

When it comes to garden design, there are many ways in which you can creatively design a slope in different orientations. When choosing plants, it is important that they not only have similar light requirements, but are similar in care. When choosing suitable plants for a slope, conditions are especially important. Rainwater runs down a slope, so the soil can absorb less water and therefore receives fewer nutrients. It is therefore important to choose a garden plant that is undemanding and preferably has a strong root system. A well-developed root system is important to fight erosion; the root network ensures that the soil stays in place and is not washed away. You can also visit our drought tolerant plants category. Many plants in this category are suitable for planting on slopes or as colourful accents between suitable ground covers