Offering the potential to be both practical and beautiful, walls are important features of your outside space.
Whether you are looking to improve an existing wall or to build a new one, it is worth taking the time to consider your options.
You need to balance functionality with aesthetics to create what could be an outstanding feature of your property.
Our garden wall ideas should help you to push your creative boundaries to give your property physical boundaries that really work.
Going to the wall
You might be asking yourself if your boundary needs to be a wall. After all, you could limit your costs by constructing a fence instead.
But fences don’t last forever, and they require regular maintenance. Walls are more effective sound barriers and give you greater privacy. Better still, they provide impressive scope for creativity and are sturdy structures against which you can position storage solutions and greenhouses.
Beyond the pale
Did you know that the word pale is derived from the Latin word "palus", meaning stake or post? Going beyond the pale means to exceed prescribed limits. You can’t do that with your boundary walls, but you can build walls that aren’t boundaries.
Perhaps your garden would benefit from retaining walls to ensure that sloping areas are functional and practical. You could also construct walls to define areas of your garden or to conceal unsightly features of your property. In addition, walls can be used to lend privacy to seating areas or to create raised beds for planting.
Garden walls ideas should not be limited to boundaries!
You can’t sit on the fence
While you can’t sit on fences, you can sit on dwarf garden walls, and you could incorporate seating into your wall design.
Your stone or brick seating might enable you to better enjoy your garden or to watch the local wildlife. With the addition of cushions, it could also help you to dine with friends and family al fresco when space is at a premium.
Material concerns
Garden walls may be constructed from a variety of materials including brick, stone, blocks, slate and concrete.
It is important to choose materials that complement both your property and any existing features of your outside space. Concrete or blockwork could give your garden a contemporary vibe while stone is a great choice for period properties. Slate boasts amazing texture and delivers a rustic feel while bricks can be chosen to match your home or could be painted to bring colour into the mix.
If you are constructing more than one wall, you can unify the look for a pleasing aesthetic by using the same material or shade for each wall. However, in smaller spaces, contrasting materials and colours could divert the eye to produce the illusion of a larger yard or garden.
Dress to impress: garden wall decoration ideas
Large expanses of plain walling can imbue your space with a boxy or bland feel and could overly dominate your garden.
Happily, it is possible to dress or decorate your garden walls in a variety of ways to create interest, to soften your boundaries or to transform your wall into a pleasing focal point:
- Painting a bland or unsightly wall can make all the difference. Choose white or a bright colour to lift a shaded area or to create the illusion of space. Try a bold colour to establish a focal point or a shade of green to soften your boundary.
- Incorporate a mirror to reflect light into your garden or simply to reflect your garden to enhance the sense of space. A mirror positioned to reflect flowers and trees will elevate your space with colour and greenery without the need for planting – perfect where space is at a premium.
- Feature a decorative wall panel to lend interest to an area of your garden or to conceal a damaged section of walling.
- It’s also worth thinking about garden wall water features ideas. You will discover diverse wall hanging fountains that will enable you to enjoy the calming sound of running water.
- Create a gallery wall for interest, to conceal damage or to transform bland brickwork. Use decorative panels, planters, metal wall sculptures or any attractive pieces to design a special display.
When considering ideas to decorate garden walls, you will be limited only by what your imagination can conjure. Work with colour, decorative pieces, mirrors and water to produce walls that make rather than break your outside space.
Up against a brick wall: gardening ideas for walls
There is no reason why bricks or stones alone should become the backdrop for your outside space. Carefully planned planting can give you a special focal point or centrepiece for your garden.
Vertical gardening is particularly beneficial when space is limited. Why waste valuable meterage? You can create attractive displays and the greenery will blur the boundaries of your garden, creating a greater sense of space.
Plant climbers such as clematis, roses, vines or honeysuckle to transform a bland or unsightly wall. If there is nowhere to plant climbers adjacent to the wall, use attractive pots which will lend further interest to your display and plant them with dwarf trees or shrubs.
Consider positioning planters on top of your wall or fixing planters to the wall that enable you to grow trailing edibles including tomatoes, strawberries or squashes.
More than a ton of bricks
As you can see, your wall can be so much more than a ton of bricks. Whether acting as a boundary, a retaining wall or a divider, your wall can become a special feature of your garden. Displaying beautiful planting, defining your land, creating a sound barrier and giving you greater privacy, your garden wall could be one of the highlights of your property.
We hope that our ideas for garden walls have provided you with the inspiration you need, and we are sure that will have garden wall decorating ideas of your own.
There’s never a bad time to bring those ideas to life!
