Hill Country terrace, Boerne

Laura and Ben M. bought their Boerne home for the view west over the Cibolo Creek valley. The backyard came with it: a slope that dropped 14 feet from the back door to the fence, bare caliche where the builder had scraped it, and a 6-by-8 concrete stoop as the only flat ground. Every heavy rain sent a sheet of mud across the stoop and down to the neighbor's.

They wanted somewhere to eat outside with their two kids, shade in the afternoon when the sun comes straight off the valley, and planting that the deer wouldn't eat. They also wanted to stop the erosion before it reached the foundation.

Marisol Ortega's design broke the slope into two terraces instead of one tall wall. That kept each wall under 4 feet, avoided engineering and a permit, and gave a planting bed between the tiers. The upper terrace holds a 620-square-foot mortared flagstone patio under a 14-by-18-foot cedar pergola, oriented with rafters running east to west to block the late sun. The lower terrace became a native garden with a decomposed granite path.

Wade Kessler's masons built both walls in Texas cream limestone on gravel footings, with perforated drains behind each tier carried to a dry outlet at the side yard. Limestone steps with recessed lights connect the levels. Two 65-gallon cedar elms went in on the lower terrace to shade it in ten years, with cages against fall buck rubs.