In the yard, a retaining wall serves a very simple purpose: to hold soil back to better utilize the terrain. From foot-high garden borders to towering walls that enclose an entire property, retaining ...

For an unusual option, try this 'Porcelain blue' corydalis, with live plants available from Burpee. These cascading blue flowers are sure to add something different to your retaining walls.

Rock soapwort, winter-hardy throughout the Midwest, grows best in full sun. Plants demand well-drained soil, which they're sure to find at the top of a retaining wall.

It is in the shade and will be planted in 100% almost solid clay. Is there anything besides hosta that will grow under these conditions? I need to hide the end of a retaining wall. -- S.W., via email.

With the right plants for covering walls, it’s easy to brighten up a bland wall or conceal an unsightly boundary. Dense evergreen climbers or deciduous choices that retain good structure over ...

The staff’s advice: Free-standing stone walls make better homes for chipmunks than for plants. An unmortared retaining wall, however, is fair game.

Once it flowers, if spent leafy stems are pinched back, it will flower again and continue to add a delicate, trailing cover to a stone retaining wall, bank or wild garden for most of the year.

Succulents – those hardy, moisture-retaining plants that come in different colors, forms and varieties – take over the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens beginning Saturday.

The far end of the back yard has a tiered retaining wall, and the second level is pretty bare except for some ferns and old mulch. Can I plant one or two dwarf trees on that second tier?

Save yourself a lot of time and money by designing and installing hardscape first (patio, retaining wall, water feature, pathways, fences, etc.). Then add plants, avoiding high-maintenance ones ...

Q. Do you recommend rock garden plants? We were in West Seattle and the rock retaining walls seem to be filled with bright, low-growing flowers.

These beautiful plants for covering walls will inject color, texture and provide a valuable habitat and food for wildlife ...