Summary
Discover how retaining walls add structure, beauty, and function to your landscape — from boulder charm to clean concrete and timeless brick designs.
Walls do more than hold back soil. They create rooms, define terraces, give you seating, and even become countertops or living art. I’ll walk you through the wall types I build most often, the real-world trade-offs I see on job sites, and the small details that make big differences.
Block Walls like Belgard Diamond Pro and G Force by techo b
When you want clean geometry and predictability, I reach for modular block systems like Belgard Diamond Pro. They stack easily, interlock, and are straightforward to engineer for taller builds. I like using coping stones and hiding LED strips under the top course to make them read crisp in the evening. If you want a mode terrace or a neat seating wall that won’t surprise you later, this is a go-to. Look at this beautiful Techo bloc G force one.
Concrete walls
Concrete gives you flexibility. I often do a parge coat or stucco for surfacing, then you can paint it to match the house color palette. Concrete is simple, effective, and direct. Perhapsgreatest advantages of cast concrete wall is that you can control the height seamlessly. Modular wall will increase in height based on the height of the block or brick, concrete .
But concrete does not have to be boring. In one project that we did the top of concrete retaining wall became a working countertop — honed granite that is great food prep. To add more flare we used wood boards to created a printed wood grain on the walls. The texture is unique, and delicate wood grain is certainly to become a conversational piece.
Boulder Walls That Age into Character
If your landscape benefits from a rugged, natural feel, boulder walls are hard to beat. They’re relatively inexpensive when stone is local, and they don’t try to be perfect — which is their charm. Over time moss and lichen colonize the surface and the wall gains a patina that tells a story. I always leave planting pockets between stones so the wall softens from day one and starts to look like it belongs there. We do miles and miles of boulder walls i love coming back to them and see a little fern growing on them. To me they are so fitting for wooded backyards like those in North Druid Hills and Decatur.
Pressure Treated Timber Walls
Timber walls are inexpensive compared to others. But are they indeed cheap? I replace too many of then because of missing deadman (timbers that anchor the wall) and lack of drainage. Without deadmen and a perforated drain with gravel backfill, hydrostatic pressure and rot take a big bite out of the wall’s lifespan. If you’re considering timber, let me run a quick comparison so you understand true lifecycle cost and avoid a surprise replacement.
Brick
Brick retaining walls combine durability and timeless charm, offering structural strength while aging gracefully. Properly constructed brick walls with good drainage, appropriate footing, and reinforced cores resist soil pressure and freeze–thaw cycles, making them an excellent long-term solution for terraced gardens. Their modular nature allows for gentle curves, stepped terraces, and integrated planting pockets, giving designers both functional stability and architectural rhythm across a property.
Stone veneer wall. Applying a stone veneer to a retaining wall elevates that sturdy base into the ultimate classic look by adding texture, color variation, and a handcrafted appearance without sacrificing performance. Natural or manufactured stone veneer can be selected to match regional materials or create deliberate contrast, and when installed with proper mortar jointing and a breathable moisture barrier it blends structural with refined elegance—producing a landscape element that reads as timeless, custom-crafted, and visually rich.
Tell me whether you want the wall to disappear into planting or be the garden’s centerpiece and I’ll design the detail to match.
