Retaining walls are practical landscape features, but they can sometimes look harsh or dominate a garden. One of the best ways to soften their appearance is by planting trailing or cascading plants that spill gently over the edges.
Trailing plants create a natural “waterfall” effect, adding texture, greenery and colour while helping the garden feel more established. Our companion guide to softening fences and retaining walls covers the upright half of the job. Many of these plants are also hardy and low maintenance, making them perfect for difficult areas such as rock walls, slopes and raised garden beds. (ModularWalls)
This guide highlights some of the best trailing plants for retaining walls in Australian gardens.
Why use trailing plants on retaining walls?
Trailing plants are ideal for hardscape areas because they:
- Soften the hard lines of stone or concrete
- Add depth and texture to garden design
- Help stabilise soil on slopes
- Provide ground cover that reduces weeds
- Create a lush, natural appearance
Many cascading plants are drought tolerant and thrive in sunny, well-drained conditions often found around retaining walls.
Best trailing plants for retaining walls
Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’
One of the most popular cascading plants for retaining walls. It produces long trailing stems with soft silver foliage that drapes beautifully over edges, and our Silver Falls dichondra care guide covers watering and trimming. (ModularWalls)
Best for:
- Modern landscapes
- Pots and retaining walls
- Full sun to part shade
Trailing Rosemary (Rosmarinus prostratus)
A hardy, evergreen herb that spreads and cascades over walls. It also produces small blue flowers and can be used in cooking. (ModularWalls)
Best for:
- Sunny retaining walls
- Mediterranean gardens
- Drought-tolerant landscapes
Creeping Boobialla (Myoporum)
This tough Australian native spreads quickly and forms a dense carpet of foliage that drapes over edges. (Ozbreed Plants)
Best for:
- Coastal gardens
- Erosion control
- Low-maintenance landscapes
Hibbertia (Trailing Guinea Flower)
A native trailing plant that produces bright yellow flowers and can spill over retaining walls and rockeries.
Best for:
- Native gardens
- Sunny slopes and walls
Casuarina ‘Cousin It’
A unique native groundcover with long flowing foliage that cascades dramatically over retaining walls, and covered in full in our Cousin It care guide. (ModularWalls)
Best for:
- Contemporary landscapes
- Coastal gardens
- Rockeries and walls
Brachyscome (Native Daisy)
A hardy Australian native that produces small daisy-like flowers and can spill attractively over edges and garden beds. (Wikipedia)
Best for:
- Cottage-style gardens
- Colourful borders
- Retaining wall edges
Pigface (Carpobrotus)
A hardy coastal groundcover with bright flowers and thick succulent leaves. It spreads quickly and handles heat and salt exposure well.
Best for:
- Coastal retaining walls
- Sandy soils
- Low-water gardens
Hardenbergia
Often grown as a climber, Hardenbergia can also trail along slopes or cascade over walls, producing masses of purple flowers.
Best for:
- Native gardens
- Spring colour
- Sunny retaining walls
Flowering trailing plants
If you want colour along your retaining wall, these plants perform well:
- Trailing lobelia
- Verbena
- Creeping thyme
- Blue rock bindweed (Convolvulus)
- Nasturtium
Many of these plants flower through spring and summer while cascading beautifully over garden edges. For the flat ground above and below the wall, see our guides to ground cover plants and ground covers for shade.
Designing with trailing plants
To get the best effect from cascading plants:
Plant at the top of the wall
This allows stems to naturally spill down the face of the wall.
Use repetition
Plant the same variety every 60 to 90 cm for a consistent look.
Mix foliage and flowering plants
Combine silver foliage plants with colourful flowers for contrast.
Layer with upright plants
Place taller shrubs behind trailing plants for depth.
Best conditions for trailing plants
Most trailing plants for retaining walls prefer:
- Full sun to partial shade
- Well-drained soil
- Moderate watering during establishment
- Occasional pruning to control growth
Hardscape areas often reflect heat, so choosing drought-tolerant plants is important.
Final thoughts
Trailing plants are one of the easiest ways to turn a plain retaining wall into a garden feature in its own right. Their cascading growth softens hard edges and creates a lush, natural effect that improves the overall landscape.
By choosing hardy varieties suited to your climate and positioning them correctly along the top of the wall, you can create a beautiful flowing garden that requires very little maintenance.
Trailing plants for Australian retaining walls
A bare retaining wall is one of the most common eyesores in Australian gardens, and planting above it to spill down is the cheapest fix. The constraint is that the top of a retaining wall is a harsh position - free-draining to the point of being dry, and usually in full sun with heat radiating off the wall face.
| Plant | Trail length | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Silver Falls dichondra | 1-2 m | Full sun, dry. Silver foliage |
| Creeping boobialla | 1 m+ | Full sun, dry. Australian native |
| Pigface | 1 m+ | Full sun, dry, salt tolerant. Native |
| Tropic Cascade lomandra | 600-900 mm | Sun or shade. Very low maintenance |
| Crackerjack lomandra | 800 mm | Sun or part shade, arching habit |
| Seaside daisy | 600 mm | Sun, dry. Seeds into wall crevices |
| Star jasmine | 1 m+ | Sun or shade, fragrant |
| Prostrate grevillea | 1-2 m | Full sun, low phosphorus. Native, bird attracting |
Best by situation
- Hot, dry, no irrigation - creeping boobialla, pigface or Silver Falls. All three survive on rainfall once established.
- Coastal and salt exposed - pigface is the standout, with Cousin It and myoporum close behind.
- Shaded wall - Tropic Cascade lomandra, Asiatic star jasmine, or native violet if it stays damp.
- You want flowers - seaside daisy, prostrate grevillea or pigface.
- Genuinely zero maintenance - Tropic Cascade lomandra. Cut back every two or three years and that is it.
- Dry stone or gappy wall - seaside daisy seeds itself into the crevices, which is exactly what it is good at. Note that it has naturalised in parts of southeastern Australia, so deadhead it and check council guidance if you are near bushland.
Planting above the wall
- Plant 300 to 500 mm back from the edge, not right on it. The very edge dries fastest and roots are exposed.
- Improve the soil with compost. The top of a retaining wall is often builder's fill.
- Space at 600 to 800 mm along the wall for continuous cover.
- Mulch to 50 mm, kept off the crowns.
- Water regularly through the first summer - this position dries faster than a normal bed and plants fail here more often for that reason than any other.
- Consider drip irrigation on a long wall. Hand watering a raised bed reliably does not happen.
What not to plant near the wall
Keep anything with a substantial root system away from the wall itself and from behind it - figs, large eucalypts, poincianas and vigorous screening trees can all displace blocks and block the agricultural drain behind the wall over time. Roots plus blocked drainage is how retaining walls fail, and repairs are expensive.
By city
- Brisbane and southeast Queensland - drainage is rarely the issue on a raised bed, but wet summers can rot Silver Falls. Lomandra and native violet are safer.
- Sydney and coastal NSW - pigface and Cousin It handle salt-laden wind on exposed walls.
- Melbourne and Canberra - choose frost-hardy options: lomandra, prostrate grevillea, star jasmine.
- Perth and Adelaide - the hardest conditions. Pigface, creeping boobialla and Silver Falls are the reliable performers, and a wetting agent is worth applying to sandy fill before planting.
Planting below the wall instead
Where the bed above is too shallow, planting upright shrubs at the base to grow up and soften the face works well - lomandra, dianella, westringia or a compact lilly pilly. It gives a similar visual result and the plants sit in deeper, cooler soil.
Ready to plant?
Browse our plants for retaining walls, or fill the whole slope cheaply from groundcovers for low maintenance gardens.
