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Before & After: Rebecca & Staffan’s Terraced Garden

March 18, 2024

before swedish terrace garden

This is a special Valentine’s edition of our Thursday garden makeovers.   It’s pretty flowers and charming white walls in an epic terraced garden that are so Valentine’s cheery. But mostly, I picked it because of this – this is Rebecca & Staffan’s wedding picture — right there in the under-construction garden next to the concrete mixer.  Making a garden together (and a pretty fantastic one at that) — what could be more romantic on this day for sweethearts?

Getting married by the concrete mixer - garden construction
An axonometric plan of the terraced garden
A terraced garden is a series of flat platforms built on a slope, allowing for efficient use of space and water conservation. By creating multiple levels, gardeners can plant a variety of flowers, vegetables, and herbs while preventing soil erosion. Terraced gardens are a beautiful and practical way to maximize a small or sloped outdoor area.

This axonometric drawing of the garden helps to understand what they were dealing with — a giant hill that was previously a dumping ground (so full of trash) that they proceeded to clean and level into an extraordinary series of terraces for various purposes.

Rebecca and Steffan’s garden is in the Swedish countryside.  In the summer of 2008, they started building this garden and – with the exception of hiring an excavator to carve out the six terraces – did everything themselves by hand—a true labor of love.

Creating a terraced garden in sweden
Terraced gardens are characterized by their steeply sloping levels of land, often supported by retaining walls or other structures. These gardens are commonly found in hilly or mountainous regions where flat land is limited, and they provide a practical solution for creating usable space for planting and cultivation. The terracing technique allows for efficient water drainage and soil retention.

That this garden looks as established as it does, even though it is only a few years old, is extraordinary to me.  It also has me thinking that building walls from breeze blocks, rendered and painted, isn’t such a bad idea for such a harsh climate – and it is a skill I am inspired to learn.

Swedish terraced garden with pretty flowers

Happy Valentine’s Day! — I hope you enjoy this tour through Rebecca & Staffan’s garden.   Make sure to take a visit to their blog to see many more images and read more about their garden.

images from garden with view

peonies daisies salvia in a terraced garden with white walls

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  1. m says:

    Was wondering what your budget was for this size project?

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