Slopes & Uneven Gardens

Since Victorian times sloping or uneven gardens have always been a challenge for the imagination.  One thing they mastered was to create level areas where possible and let the borders take up the slopes or undulations. 

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Slopes, also lend themselves to create a circulatory system with water to enjoy a mini stream.  Plants have many adaptions, some varieties, especially ground-cover conifers, can look fantastic, if cleverly planted to create a waterfall or river effect.  Slopes and undulations also lend themselves to Rockery systems.  Other materials such as railway sleepers and walling, can also be introduced to level up certain areas.  Again in Victorian times, by hand as mini diggers were not available, amphitheatre shaped areas would be created, so if you imagine the stage is the lawn and the seating area is a Rockery, beautifully planted up with Alpine softening the rocks and dwarf conifers and dwarf shrubs being used too.  I fully intend to do an article on Rockery construction later. For easy Gardening on slopes, it is worth putting a pathway that goes diagonally across the slope rather than straight up, as the angle is less.  Piles, such as compost heaps, that you add to gradually over the year should ideally be created at the top of the hill and then when it comes to the autumn when you use barrow after barrow load, you will be borrowing the full wheelbarrows downhill.  Working with slopes is not easy but, with thought, aesthetically can be up there with the best of them.  The other fantastic advantage a slope has, is that, there are drier areas on the slopes and wetter areas at the bottom, therefore, often a wider range of plants can be used.  Planning carefully prior to developing a slope into a garden is well worth it!!