LAYMAN'S GUIDE

TO LANDSCAPE
TREATMENT OF SLOPES
AND RETAINING WALLS

Geotechnical Engineering Office

Civil Engineering Department
 Forewor
ore d
ord

This Layman’s Guide, intended for the use of the general public,
provides general guidance on landscape treatment for man-made
slopes and retaining walls.

It is Government’s policy to make slopes look as natural as

possible. We have committed to landscape every existing slope
upgraded under the Landslip Preventive Measures Programme and
every newly-formed Government slope. With this commitment and
effort, we believe that our living environment will be greener and
more harmonious.

With the experience gained from providing landscape treatment

to Government slopes, we have prepared this document with the
assistance of Urbis Limited. We hope that it will help and encourage
private slope and retaining wall owners to provide landscape 1
treatment to their slopes and walls when planning maintenance or
upgrading works.

For more detailed guidance, the reader may refer to GEO

Publication No. 1/2000 “Technical Guidelines on Landscape
Treatment and Bio-engineering for Man-made Slopes and Retaining
Walls” published by the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Civil
Engineering Department.

R.K.S. Chan
Head, Geotechnical Engineering Office
July 2002
 Contents
Page

Foreword 1

Contents 2

Why Do We Need Landscape Works on Slopes and Retaining Walls? 3

"Before" and "After" Look of a Landscaped Slope 4

Examples of Soft Landscape Treatments 5

Examples of Hard Landscape Treatments 6

2 Seven Landscape Design Objectives 7

Some Tips for Landscaping Slopes 12

Tip 1 - Preserve trees in your community 12

Tip 2 - Create planting opportunities 15

Tip 3 - Provide Ornamental planting 20

Are Landscape Works Costly? 21

Are Landscape Works Difficult to Maintain? 21

Seven Things to Remember 22

Assistance 23

Selected Publications Related to Slopes 24

 Why Do WWee Need
Landsca pe W
Landscape or
Wor ks on
ork
Slopes and
Retaining W alls ?
Walls

To Enhance Proper
Proper ty V
operty alue
Value
To Improve Appear
Impro ance
Appearance
To Crea
Crea te a Gr
eate eener En
Greener vir
Envir onment
vironment
3
 "Befor
"Befor e" and "After" Look of a
ore"
Landscaped Slope

BEFORE

AFTER

More examples ...

Examples of Soft Landscape T
Landscape Trreatments
eatments
Ornamental planting
of shrubs and
herbaceous plants at
the toe of a slope
with ferns covering
the slope face

Well maintained
mature trees and
ornamental
5
shrubs on a slope

Climbers on a
retaining wall with
palm trees and
decorative shrubs
in a planting strip
immediately in
front
 Examples of Hard Landsca
Hard pe T
Landscape Trreatments
eatments

Decorative designs on
the face of a retaining
wall enhanced by trees and
shrubs in a toe planter

Artificial rock and stone

facing used to decorate a
large-scale retaining wall

Artificial rock used to blend a

steep slope into the
surrounding natural landscape
Seven Landsca
Sev pe Design Objectiv
Landscape es
Objectives

1 Limit impacts on the natural environment

Where possible,
as much existing
vegetation on and
around the feature
should be retained.

2 Fit with surrounding landscape/

natural topography

Where possible,
the creation or
restoration of
features should
respond to the
broad variations
in surrounding
landform and
vegetation.
 3 Achieve naturalness

Solutions involving natural materials (rock and

vegetation) are almost always visually preferable to
those using artificial ones.

4 Maintain simplicity

The fewer the number of different engineering or

landscape techniques used on a feature, the more
likely it is to look coherent.
5 Mitigate visual impact

Where artificial or built elements are used, efforts

should be made to blend the built elements into their
surroundings in order to create harmony between
the artificial and natural landscape.
9

6 Contribute to environmental
sustainability

Vegetation on features helps to eliminate green-

house gases and can provide ecological habitats and
sources of food for insects and birds.
 7 Aesthetically pleasing
The landscape design of features should conform to general
principles of good aesthetic design.

i. Unity and coherence

10 Planting at the toe and top of a retaining wall and fill

slope successfully creates a unified appearance to the
whole slope.

ii. Proportion and scale

The buttresses with masonry facing are suitably sized

and dispositioned in relation to the retaining wall with
ribbed finish to create a sense of proportion.
iii. Pattern and texture

This design solution employs a variety of techniques in

a co-ordinated manner, resulting in a composition
having both pattern and texture.

11

iv. Rhythm and complexity

Ribbed finish and plain concrete create a scene with both

rhythm and complexity.
 Some Tips for Landscaping Slopes:
Tip 1 - Preserve trees in your community

Use protective fencing to

screen construction works from
areas of existing vegetation

Use tree rings

to retain
existing trees
where a hard Protect
surface is existing tree
required trunks with
(Professional wooden
advice should pallets and/
be sought as or hessian
necessary) wrapping
during
12 construction
works

Locate soil nails and

other engineering
features away from tree
trunks and roots

Use toe walls to

retain existing trees
where the slope
surface has to be
re-graded
 Examples of tree preservation on
slopes and retaining walls

13
Tree rings are provided to protect existing trees

Rings formed in the slope surface

around tree trunks and roots allow
retention of existing woodland trees
14
Existing trees are retained after upgrading works using soil nails

Use of soil nails to stabilise an existing

masonry wall allows attractive ‘wall Soil nail heads concealed
trees’ to remain undisturbed behind blocks in the wall face
 Tip 2 - Crea
Crea te planting oppor
eate tunities
opportunities

15

Slope Angle Possible Planting on Slope Face

θ ≤ 35 grass hydroseeding with pit planting of trees and shrubs
o

grass hydroseeding with erosion control matting and pit

35 < θ ≤ 45
o o

planting of trees and shrubs

grass mix with erosion control matting with wire mesh

45 < θ ≤ 60
o o
reinforcement and pit planting of groundcovers, climbing
plants and ferns

60 < θ ≤ 90 use of new method including proprietary systems

o o
 Examples of v
veegeta tion on slopes
etation
and rretaining
etaining w alls
walls

Ornamental shrubs and groundcover at

the toe of a retaining wall

16

Climbers on a retaining wall

Self-clinging climbers on a Erosion control mat supporting a grass

steep rock slope surface
Toe wall planter supporting colourful
flowering shrubs

17

Combination of trees and shrubs on a slope Trees on a slope

Grass surface on a slope

 Species Commonly Planted in Hong Kong
Kong
Trees

Casuarina equisetifolia
(Horsetail Tree) Melaleuca
leucadendron
(Paperbark Tree) Eucalyptus citriodora
18
(Lemon-scented Gum)

Groundco
Groundcover and Cr
oundcov ee
Creeper
eeper s
pers

Wedelia trilobata Ficus pumila

(Wedelia) (Creeping Fig)
 Shrubs
Shrubs

Calliandra haematocephala
(Red Powderpuff)

19

Hibiscus
Ligustrum
sinense rosa-sinensis
(Chinese Privet) (Chinese Hibiscus)

Rhododendron
spp.
(Azalea)
 Tip 3 - Provide Ornamental planting
Pro

Ornamental low shrubs on a slope

20

Clipped shrubs used in combination with flowering

shrubs and mature trees to provide an attractive
appearance to a slope
 Are Landsca
Are pe W
Landscape or
Works Costly?
ork
The typical unit cost ffor
or a rrang
ange of pr
ange oducts in 2001
products
are as below:
Groundcovers (HK$10-15 each)
Hydroseeding (HK$10-20 per sq m)
Shrubs (HK$15-30 each)
Climbing Plants (HK$25-40 each)
Tree: light standard (HK$100-150 each)
Planter Hole (HK$200 each)
Toe Planter (HK$800-1000 per linear m)

Rates given are indicative only and may vary according

to scale and site conditions.

21

Ar
Aree Landsca pe W
Landscape or
Wor
orkks Dif
Difff icult
to Maintain?
Typical maintenance w or
wor ks ffor
ork or soft landsca pe w
landscape or
wor ks:
ork
• Regular inspections of plants to check their healthy growth
• Replacement planting where necessary
• Control of pests
• Trimming of vegetation as necessary
• Watering of ornamental planting
• Inspection of hard landscape works in relation to planting
• Clearance of drainage channels

Typical maintenance w or
wor
orkks ffor
or har
hardd landsca pe w
landscape or
wor
orkks:
• Check for damage of surface finishes and make necessary repairs
 Seven T
Sev hings to R
Things emember
Remember

22
 Assistance
More guidance can be found in GEO Publication
No
No.. 1/2000 "T ec
"Tec hnical Guidelines on Landsca
echnical pe
Landscape
Trea tment and Bio-engineering ffor
eatment or Man-made Slopes
and R etaining W
Retaining alls", whic
Walls", whichh is a
avvaila
ailabble from :
from

Government Publications Centre,

Gr ound F
Ground loor
loor,, Low Bloc
Floor k,
Block,
Queens
Queensww a y Go
Gov v ernment Of f ices
ices,,
66 Queens
Queensw w a y, Hong K ong
ong..
Kong

"Layman's Guide to Slope Maintanence", and other

leaflets and booklets on slope safety can be obtained
from District Of
from Offfices
ices.. For mor
For e inf
more orma
informa tion on slope
ormation
related matters, please contact:
23

Community Advisory Unit,

Geotec hnical Engineering Of f ice
Geotechnical ice,,
Civil Engineering Department
Tel. No.: 2760 5800
No.:

or browse the ffollowing

browse ollowing w
weeb-sites:

Civil Engineering Department

http://www.info.gov.hk/ced

Hong K ong Slope Saf

Kong ety
Safety
http://hkss.ced.gov.hk

Hong K ong Institute of Landsca

Kong pe Ar
Landscape Arcchitects
http://www.hkilaonline.org
 Selected Pub lica
Publica tions
lications
Related to Slopes
elated

24