Types of Garden Wall for Your Home

Backyard walls don't need to be things you try to make as invisible as possible. You can also give them a decorative function at the same time as they're durable and keep your yard isolated.

Your home’s infrastructure needs to be perfect, both inside and out. With that in mind, we want to tell you about the wide variety of types of garden wall. Keep reading to see some of our favorites!

Having a solid structure to protect the perimeter of your garden is key.

So, if you want your garden to be safe, but above all nicely, subtly decorated, then it’s definitely worth building a wall out of quality materials. Ideally, they should be consistent, and aesthetically pleasing.

Types of walls for your garden

Walls with irregular slabs

One great solution would be to build a wall out of irregular slabs of stone. This will give your garden a more informal, historical touch as if it were an old wall or the remains of an ancient building.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be functional, though. This kind of wall can be just as rigid and durable as any other, holding in whatever part of the garden it’s next to perfectly well! These types of stones are extremely rigid and totally solid.

Avoid placing them in a way that has obvious symmetry, or a clear sense of order. Ideally, you should put them in horizontal rows, maintaining a simple sense of uniformity. As for the color, we recommend something along the lines of off-white or gray.

Stonework: irregular beauty

This was a very common format during the Romanesque era (9th-12th century). There are several different ways to do this kind of stonework. Let’s take a look at some of the most noteworthy to give you an idea of what kind of garden wall you might want:

• Walls without mortar: you can build a wall out of large, unbound stones. This can work whether they’re irregular, or all have a similar shape. This type of wall has a really nice, naturalistic aesthetic, with stone after stone and no mortar in between.
• Walls with mortar: you can give a wall a bit more consistency with mortar. It will bind them together more firmly, making them completely immobile. Some will also stick out more, and others will be slightly deeper in the wall.
• The color range in this kind of wall can make the space much more dynamic. People generally use stones that have an earthy color, but we also love stones with a grayer color, especially flint, or something like that.

Gabions filled with stones

When you have a garden that needs some form of tough retaining wall, a gabion filled with stones is probably your best option. These don’t exactly have the best aesthetic, but they are one of the most functional garden wall options you’ll find.

What exactly are gabions? They’re those walls made with irregular stones, enclosed by a wire cage. They’re “behind bars,” to put it another way. People generally use them as small shelves, or barriers, to better protect the space in case of exterior collapses.

If you want, you can also make some small, elevated areas where you can lay a bed of soil and put in some plants or grass. This is definitely a good idea if you want a more countryside, rustic style. 

Cement is always a good option

People have used cement to build things all throughout history because of how versatile and cheap it is. It became especially popular in the 20th century. It is, without doubt, one of the most practical, functional materials for a garden wall.

You can use individual stones stacked on top of each other, or use the cement as mortar to bind other stones. It’s easy to mold, and once it’s dry, it becomes extremely tough. 

It’s not so aesthetically pleasing to look at, but it really depends on what you do with the wall. You could put some other types of stone on top of it to give it some flair, or just let it be more invisible and have a primarily functional purpose.

Using planters as a wall

There’s also another option completely different from the other things we’ve shown you so far? What are we talking about? Walls made out of planters (with concrete or another durable material). This is a great way to add a green touch to the wall and make the space feel even more natural.

It’s also an amazing decoration idea because it will mean the garden doesn’t have to stop at the ground. You can also have flowers and plants up in the air, on the wall.