And while the interesting land forms created by contouring soil and manipulating its slope and grade work well on large sites, small-scale berms can also be used to make smaller sites more visually interesting while also easing drainage woes. In Oklahoma, where I live and work as a landscape architect, most of the sites for which I am hired to design plans are flat.
Flat sites are often uninteresting to look at, and they tend to be plagued by drainage problems.
My greatest challenge when designing a plan for a flat site is not only to effectively solve any runoff problems, but also to add subtle visual value. For that reason, berming, which solves both practical and aesthetic problems, has become one of my signature design features. Add character to an uninspired space by forming the soil into low, rolling hillocks. This once uninteresting front yard was transformed by adding berms that mimic waves on water. Used by permission.