Midcentury Garden with a Retaining Wall Ideas and Designs

Hursthouse Landscape Architects and Contractors

Private conversation space for two is conveniently located near the study.
Photo of a small retro back partial sun garden for summer in Chicago with a retaining wall and natural stone paving.

Mid Century Modern Remodel

Reikow Landscape Design

RCMedia
Photo of a medium sized retro front driveway garden in Seattle with a retaining wall and concrete paving.

Bonifield Residence

Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

Photo of a midcentury garden in San Luis Obispo with a retaining wall.

3147

Rogers Design Build

This is an example of a midcentury front garden in Other with a retaining wall and gravel.

Natural Stone Retaining Wall

FormLA Landscaping

Mid-sized, California native foliage sits atop and below a natural stone retaining wall, creating a cascade of foliage and blooms between the home and meadow.

My Houzz: Ron

Lucy Call

Photo: Lucy Call © 2013 Houzz
Retro sloped garden in Salt Lake City with a retaining wall.

Sunset Terrace

John Cote

This is an example of a medium sized midcentury front xeriscape full sun garden in San Luis Obispo with a retaining wall and concrete paving.

El Cerrito Mid Century Modern Deck Patio Stairs

Leigh Designs

Each outdoor room of this El Cerrito Mid Century Modern backyard deck, from the outdoor kitchen, to the dining area, to lounge area, maximize the views of the bay. This couple were very excited about and involved in designing the look and feel of their outdoor living space. For instance, instead of the typical deck redwood flooring, we were able to accommodate their desire to have a flagstone floor built on a redwood frame, which was more in keeping with their Mid Century Modern style. The husband was a gourmet chef and particularly enjoyed the design of his specialty outdoor kitchen.

Дизайн участка с уклоном - подпорные стенки из камня.

Ландшафтная мастерская Алены Арсеньевой

Подпорные стенки органично выглядят на участке с уклоном, являясь важным элементом альпийской горки - альпийского склона на дачном участке. Автор проекта: Алена Арсеньева. Реализация проекта и ведение работ - Владимир Чичмарь

Taliesen Park

HINISH Design Collective

Photo of a small retro back xeriscape partial sun garden for winter in Portland with a retaining wall and a wood fence.

Boulder Bungalow 77009

Urbanscapes LLC

The client wanted the feel of the Texas Hill Country while living in the big City of Houston. Extremely large boulders were set in place carefully for soil retention on this extremely elevated lot. The natural stone can freely move and shift to the whim of the 75 year old live oak tree. No more cracked sidewalks and mortared retaining walls here to nullify costly repairs. Succulents fill small voids in the boulder wall. The drift roses add color along the edge. The main staircase is made from natural cut stone and the smaller second staircase off of the driveway ascend to a flagstone path filled with free spirited chocolate mint as a ground cover. The mass plantings of the May Night Salvia will fulfill it's promise of a full green and purple carpet that will return every year.

Mid-Century Backyard Landscape - Racine

Ginkgo Leaf Studio

Simple plantings of molinia grass and 'Summer Beauty' allium occupy the space below the elevated perennial garden. Renn Kuhnen Photography
Photo of a medium sized midcentury back xeriscape full sun garden for autumn in Milwaukee with a retaining wall and gravel.

Bridlemile Slope

Shannon Keaveny Landscape Design, LLC

Shannon Keaveny Finishing up a southern slope facelift, with drought-tolerant plants and a new stone wall. Designed by Shannon Keaveny Landscape Design. Blessing Landscapes installed the stone wall for us.

Marvelous Mid Century

Ketti Kupper Conscious Life Design

Terraced Courtyard with dry creek and floating steps. Photo by Ketti Kupper.
This is an example of a small midcentury side xeriscape garden in Los Angeles with a retaining wall and brick paving.

Field of Dreams

Alderwood Landscape Architecture and Construction

One of the challenges of this space was working the client's needs into the design while still maintaining the existing retaining wall. Alderwood added night lighting, opened up the wall for the new fire pit, and created a functional outdoor kitchen space.

San Rafael Eichler - Mid-Century Modern Back & Front Landscape Remodel

Dig Your Garden Landscape Design

The front and back areas surrounding this Eichler home were updated with the mid-century modern design aesthetic in mind. The back landscape includes concrete retaining walls and pathways and the "Gracie Modern Arbors" (by TerraTrellis) provide eye-catching focal points, three installed to bring interest and needed height over a long pathway ramp with grape vines. Another frames a stairway to the hillside with a flowering Passion vine. The sloped hillsides were revamped to include low-water and low-maintenance plants that include CA natives, flowing grasses, other Mediterranean plants and several succulents. The Front landscape takes on a minimalist design with architectural Barrel Cactus, Artichoke Agaves, stately Thatching Reeds, a Blue Palm (Brahea 'Clara') a Mediterranean Fan Palm and other easy-care plants. The corten steel sculpture offers a striking focal point adjacent to the front doorway.

Top of the Hill Contemporary

The Land Collaborative

The Land Collaborative, services Marin and Sonoma County for all your landscape architectural design needs. The Land Collaborative is a top Marin County, CA Landscape Architect & Landscape Designer that offers offers exquisite design build projects. We provide high quality custom landscape design and installation.

Fuller Landscape

M.A. Desjardins Landscape Architecture

Design ideas for a small midcentury back formal partial sun garden for winter in Boston with a retaining wall, natural stone paving and a wood fence.

De Kesel-Lams

Mscape Design

Photo of a midcentury front xeriscape garden in San Francisco with a retaining wall and decorative stones.

El Cerrito house

Bay Stone Landscaping

Gareth Walters
Photo of a large midcentury back xeriscape full sun garden in San Francisco with a retaining wall and gravel.

Midcentury Garden with a Retaining Wall Ideas and Designs

A beautifully designed midcentury garden is as important as the emphasis we place on the designs of our interiors. After all, our grounds (however modest) frame our homes and contribute to first impressions not only of our houses, but also of the households within. Options for garden designs can be as elaborate or low maintenance as your lifestyle and preferences permit – consider both your aspirations for how it should look and how much time you can invest in garden maintenance. Consulting a gardener or landscape designer will ensure you have a garden that suits your lifestyle, the local climate and soil conditions. But don’t forget that with Houzz your first stop can be collecting images of garden ideas and designs you love in order to inspire your garden plans and potentially share them with a landscape gardening professional.

How do I come up with a midcentury front garden design?

The priority for a front garden is kerb appeal. Begin by considering the area immediately around and leading up to your front door. You may want to opt for front garden designs that blend well with the style of your home – for example, abundant foliage and flowerbeds will perfectly complement a period property, whereas man-made materials, geometric shapes and contrasting textures are great ideas for a contemporary garden design. Even if your front garden is a small space, keep it tidy – if you have more space, make the most of it with garden ideas and features such as a manicured lawn, gravel driveway, water feature or garden fencing. If you don’t have the time or commitment to devote to gardening, then neatly pruned hedges, statement paving, hanging baskets, garden benches and outdoor lighting are all decorative, low maintenance garden ideas for your midcentury front garden design.

How should I design my midcentury back garden?

Back gardens typically offer more space than front garden designs and serve a more recreational purpose, so it’s important to know how you want to spend time in your garden before you design it in order to build in the features that you will enjoy. If you love relaxing in the garden and dining al fresco, think about patios, decking, garden furniture and BBQs. For the more horticulturally-inclined, incorporate flower beds, greenhouses or vegetable garden designs. Your landscape gardening professional can help you install structures such as sheds, pergolas and gazebos that complement your garden design, and artfully-placed garden ideas such as lawn edging and lighting will add definition to your chosen design.

How do I create a low maintenance garden?

The great news is, gardens aren’t exclusively for the green-fingered. Whether you’re not horticulturally-inclined or simply don’t have the time for a bit of landscape gardening, you can still have a midcentury garden design that looks the way you want by making some smart design choices. While many of us favour low maintenance gardens like urban gardens, roof terraces and patio gardens, lovers of greenery don’t need to sacrifice grass for paving slabs. Whatever you want from your garden, there are a variety of gardening solutions that can be built in to make life easier. For example, labour intensive features such as vegetable patches, greenhouses and flower beds can be optimised with an automatic irrigation system. These can be offset with fuss-free garden ideas such as hard landscaping, including gravel, paving or decking, and hard-wearing evergreens that require minimal upkeep. You might even consider replacing your garden fencing with slow growing hedging, which can be maintained less regularly than wooden fence panels. If having a lawn is important, there are different types of grasses in varying degrees of durability and maintenance. You may choose to take a more relaxed approach to your lawn – “wild” garden designs can have great charm if the grasses and flowers are chosen carefully. If you prefer a manicured lawn, it’s a good idea to invest in a “mulching” lawn mower that will recycle clippings and remove the need for cleaning up. Finally, there isn’t a more low maintenance garden lawn than artificial grass which can look highly realistic and keep your garden looking green. Garden ornaments are a great way to add interest to your low maintenance garden design – go for smart garden ideas such as solar garden lights which are both decorative and functional. Find some of the most popular design ideas on Houzz.

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