To provide water-retaining material enabling plant roots to deeply and broadly extend without inhibiting growth of the plant roots, excellent in vegetation effect, designed so that water-absorbing resin is hardly detached from a sheet part to maintain the shape of the sheet part so as to keep the water-absorbing properties of the material, excellent in durability because of inhibiting expansion of soil due to freeze, and enabling application to a slanted ground or a rising surface such as a slope surface or a wall surface as well as horizontal utilization.

The water-retaining material includes: (a) a sheet part obtained by integrating fibrous water-absorptive resin and base material fibers; and (b) at least one communicating part which is formed on the sheet part and through which the plant roots pass. The communicating part has continuous spaces and/or a through-hole passing through in the direction of the thickness of the sheet part.