Steep learning curve!

We at Daisy have been thinking about gardening on extreme slopes recently.

A friend of ours has recently moved and needed some advice so we went mad with ideas of cantilevered lookouts, long slides and winding steps etc, etc.

However then we reigned ourselves in and realised just how challenging such a site is. Weeding would be a struggle let alone building anything. And living in Cornwall - an area  covered in ancient mines and mine workings - you have to be suspicious of every steep bank. Is it solid or is it mining waste which can be much less stable. Time for surveyors and engineers to do their bit first.

Then on a weekend walk out to Crantock beach on the north coast...

(pretty horrid huh?)

 I spotted these three gardens clinging to the bank of the river that flows onto the beach...

In the middle of winter and after numerous storms I'm sure they are not looking their best but even so I thought they were very interesting.

I was struck at the varying levels of construction that had been used, from the left - quite noticeable hard landscaping, graduating through a greener centre garden, to the right - which is fairly naturalistic and much softer (although with slightly more Pampas Grass than I approved of).

I think I would strive for somewhere around middle one - with some hard structure to give me levels, hideaways and access, but not so much that it became too overpowering.
And how lovely to have your own steps to the beach.

You can see the gardens on the left here...

An amazing location for views but pretty open to the elements, and could be tricky to plant up.
(Perhaps that's why so much Pampas Grass)

What would you put in a steeply sloping garden?

Here are some of our favourite finds on Pinterest.

Check out our other Pinterest boards here for other inspirational pictures

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