Shrubs and Trees Ideal for an Incline
Gardening and landscaping are always challenging and often back-breaking tasks for property owners. Throw a steep incline into the mix, and you have the perfect recipe for a complicated landscape design process
for your property. Planting trees and shrubs on a slope is crucial to maintaining the stability of your property’s hills and other inclined areas. Homeowners must plan to plant the best tree and shrub species for a slope as an added protection measure.
Sloped areas on residential properties have the potential to erode, dry out, and cause further problems down the line. Luckily, there are plenty of plant species that help avoid these issues and add beauty and stability to your home’s hillside. Finding the right trees and shrubs to plant on a slope isn’t easy, but with an experienced landscape designer at your aid, you can find outstanding solutions that suit your local environment. Protect your property and add to its aesthetic appeal by planting attractive shrubs and trees in sloping areas.
Planning the Perfect Landscape Design for a Sloped Property
Trees and shrubs can take your landscape design to the next level. Not only will the right trees and shrubs thrive in your yard, but they’ll also protect from potential problems like erosion, mudslides, and drainage issues. If your yard is situated on an incline, take time to understand the best course of action for your landscape concerning the local climate and your property’s needs. With adequate planning, you’ll have a beautiful, sloping backyard landscape in no time.
1. Measure the Incline
The first step in planning an ideal landscape design for an incline is to evaluate and measure the sloping area. Minor grades are easier to deal with, but if your property’s pitch is greater than 30%, it’s probably best to consult with a landscape designer to determine if terracing is a better outdoor drainage solution
for your yard. Terraced landscapes that utilize pavers allow rainwater to drain more efficiently away from your home in a controlled manner.
2. Determine Your Needs
Next, you must determine your property’s needs. The types of trees and shrubs you choose to plant offer much more than just visual appeal. Trees and shrubs with deep and extensive root systems help stabilize the soil, while taller trees help shade sloping areas and enable them to retain moisture.
If the slope in your yard is situated directly in the sun, the ground, grass, plants, and other elements will quickly dry out. Since trees and plants already pull water from the soil, retaining as much moisture as possible should be a priority. Eliminating excess water evaporation is essential if you want to avoid dry, dead grasses affecting your landscape design.
3. Understand Plant Hardiness Zones
Trees and shrubs seem like incredibly sturdy, durable outdoor features, so it’s easy to believe that any tree or shrub species can simply be plopped down onto a property with little planning. While it’s true that shrubs and trees often withstand the test of time, there are still specific conditions required for them to truly flourish.
Plant hardiness is a species’ ability to survive in adverse growing conditions. The hardiness of trees and shrubs is assessed by the plant’s ability to tolerate impacts such as:
Most Midwestern states fall into plant hardiness zones 4 and 5. Trees in these zones are typically hardy and will withstand frigid winter weather. Plant hardiness zones differ across climates, so it’s crucial to consider your area’s conditions before deciding on trees and shrubs to plant. Do extensive research and use online tools, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s interactive plant hardiness zone map
, to determine the trees and shrubs that will most likely flourish in your local environment.
The Best Trees and Shrubs to Plant on an Incline
There are several types of trees and shrubs that are the perfect choice of planting for a sloping property. For this article, we are focusing on tree and shrub species specifically for Minnesota and the Midwest. Finding the perfect plant species according to your locale makes your yard look beautiful and stay structurally sound throughout the seasons.
Shade Trees
Shade trees are an attractive addition to any incline but are especially beneficial to those slopes that are in direct sunlight. The sun’s intense rays can dry out a hillside and lead to unsightly dead grass growth. Plus, dry soil is susceptible to mud and dirt slides during flash flooding, so it’s crucial to plant sturdy trees for safety. Some shade trees that are accustomed to the Midwestern climate include:
Shade trees are an excellent way to keep your backyard cool and comfortable in the summer months. Additionally, it provides improved safety for your property, saving you from inevitable disaster in the event of a severe storm.
Erosion Control
As stated earlier, trees and shrubs can have a significant impact on your property’s safety. Trees and shrubs that are ideal for slopes will have extensive root networks to assist in erosion control. Hillsides most often exposed to wind, rain, and other weathering elements will experience increased erosion levels. Exposed rocks and roots both indicate erosion on an incline.
Use trees and shrubs to stop erosion and avoid dirt slides and other dangerous occurrences from impacting your home. Look for the following species of trees and shrubs for plant hardiness zones 4 and 5 to improve erosion control:
Ornamental Trees and Shrubs
Last but not least, you probably want your landscaping to look good. Use ornamental plant varieties to add visual appeal to the landscape design. Some ornamental trees and shrubs that work best in the Midwest include:
You can find the right nursery tree
to help elevate your outdoor landscaping. Ornamental trees and shrubs are an excellent way to add a pop of color and maybe even a bit of fruit to your backyard.
Conclusion
Designing a landscape is never easy, and adding an incline into the mix makes for even more challenges. If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the thought of tackling your landscape design alone, contact the experts at KG Landscape. Professional landscape designers can help ease all the stress of the landscape design process, providing you with a beautiful result that you will enjoy for years to come.
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When Pergolas Don’t Last, There’s Always a Reason After nearly two decades of building outdoor spaces across Medina, I’ve seen what happens when pergolas aren’t designed for Minnesota’s conditions. You can spot them a mile away—posts that lean, beams that twist, and concrete pads that have heaved out of level after just a couple of winters. It’s not because homeowners cut corners intentionally. It’s usually because whoever built it didn’t account for what our climate really does to structures that aren’t anchored right. Medina’s heavy clay soil doesn’t drain well. It holds moisture, freezes solid, and then expands like a hydraulic press pushing on everything above it. When pergolas are set on surface-level post bases, that pressure has nowhere to go but up—and the whole thing moves. Even small shifts can cause joints to separate, wood to crack, and hardware to loosen. That’s how a $15,000 structure starts looking tired after a few years instead of standing straight for decades. The truth is, pergolas here aren’t just about shade or looks. They’re about structure, drainage, and how every piece ties into the patio beneath it. A pergola that stands tall through Minnesota winters is built on the same principles as a good foundation—it’s only as strong as what’s underneath it. If you live in Medina and want to enjoy your backyard without worrying about your investment warping or sagging, start with design that respects the environment it’s built in. That means thinking beyond lumber and stain colors. It means understanding soil movement, water management, and the importance of integrating your pergola with the patio below it.
Solutions for Properties in Minnetonka You can always tell a Minnetonka yard that’s fighting its slope. Water doesn’t lie, it finds the weak spots every time. I’ve walked plenty of properties where a backyard starts beautiful in June, but by September, the patio is heaving, the grass near the pool looks like a marsh, and the homeowner is wondering how it got so bad so fast. The truth is, when you’re dealing with rolling terrain and heavy clay soils like we have around Minnetonka, you can’t just move dirt and hope gravity behaves. You need a plan that manages water from the surface all the way down through the subsoil. This is what I’ll walk you through here. You’ll see what actually causes drainage issues on sloped properties, how poor planning leads to cracked patios and shifting pool decks, and the smart drainage systems that can stop those problems for good. Whether you live near Lake Minnetonka or up in the higher ridges closer to Deephaven or Woodland, understanding how your yard sheds water is the difference between a property that lasts and one that’s constantly under repair. The Real Challenge of Sloped Minnetonka Yards Minnetonka is known for its hills, lakefront properties, and mature trees, but all that beauty comes with a set of challenges below the surface. Most of the soil here is dense clay. It holds water like a sponge and drains slowly, which means after every heavy rain, that water looks for a way downhill. If it doesn’t have a proper outlet, it ends up collecting right where you don’t want it, like along your patio, at the base of a retaining wall, or near your pool deck. I see this every season: homeowners trying to solve slope problems with a quick regrade, a layer of rock, or a simple surface drain. Those things might help for a while, but they don’t address what’s really happening underground. Clay soil doesn’t just get wet—it becomes saturated, expanding and contracting with every freeze-thaw cycle. When that happens under a patio or wall, it doesn’t matter how well-built the surface looks. The ground will move, and that movement cracks stone, shifts pavers, and slowly tears apart everything on top. The other challenge with sloped lots is how water interacts with gravity. It accelerates downhill, gaining momentum as it goes. When it hits a flat area like a patio, the water loses speed but not volume, pooling instead of flowing. That’s why I tell clients that “flat spots” on a sloped property are both an opportunity and a responsibility. They’re the best spaces to create usable outdoor areas, but they have to be engineered to handle water movement. I’ve worked on plenty of Minnetonka yards where the backyard has a beautiful view but terrible grading. You can have a perfect slope on paper, but if it directs water toward your house or creates a bowl effect between structures, you’ll end up with soggy soil and standing puddles that never dry. The goal is to move water off and away while keeping the surface level enough for comfort and usability. It’s a fine balance, but when it’s done right, it completely transforms how a property functions.