Anyone who lives near a hillside has a lot of interesting landscaping options. Flat landscapes and angled landscapes can certainly look similar to one another.
However, many of the people who have a back or front yard like this will often want to make use of the inclined surface. It’s particularly popular for people to install staircase systems outside when they create a hillside landscape.
Outdoor Staircases
The outdoor step systems used in hillside landscaping are decorative, but they’re also frequently added for practical reasons. If the incline in question is steep enough, a staircase or step system might make the area significantly safer to use.
Some people will be worried about walking down a steep hill. If there’s a step system in place, they might not have to be concerned.
These sorts of staircases won’t always have handrails in place, although people can certainly add them. However, even if the step system has no handrail, walking across the inclined surface might still be easier and safer than it would be without this feature.
People will be able to take their time and pause while standing on individual steps. They’ll be less likely to lose their balance at any point. Building those steps across a hillside landscape is comparatively easy.
Different Steps
In some hillside landscapes, people will install step systems that involve particularly large steps. The individual steps may actually resemble overlapping platforms because of their size. If the hill is large enough, it’s a setup that can work well and give people the chance to really use the space effectively.
Natural-looking stone steps are also common. These steps can look nice in landscapes that use a lot of stone elsewhere, and they’re sometimes paired with stone walls. Steps like that can work particularly well in landscapes that have a very elaborate design that features a lot of different flowers and plants.
Some people will prefer angular steps that will resemble the steps that people would use indoors. These staircases will look appropriate in very neat and structured landscapes, although they can certainly be used in plenty of others.
A solid and uniform set of stairs can complement a landscape that’s otherwise much more varied and full of a lot of different textures. The staircase will stand out that much more successfully as a result, and the clear path will be convenient to use.
Retaining Walls
People who add outdoor staircases to their hillside landscapes will often use garden walls and retaining walls as well. It’s easier to make a landscape look very organized when one of these retaining walls is in place.
A retaining wall will make a hillside landscape look like it’s layered. People will get some benefits from flat landscapes this way. However, they’ll essentially have more than one flat landscape at the same time, giving them more options.
Garden walls and retaining walls will usually be made out of stone or brick material, so they won’t use water or require a lot of maintenance. Because these walls can make gardens more structured, they can make various parts of the landscape more accessible very quickly.
There are hillside landscapes made without staircases or retaining walls. People will use the inclined space and the rest of the land much differently. They’ll have more space for mulch beds, flowers, and plants. A hillside landscape like that might seem similar to a flat landscape.
The inclined surface will still be an important landscape feature in its own right. Hillside landscapes will always be at least somewhat different from the landscapes built on flat surfaces, even if they have similar design elements.
