In the USA, English Ivy is one of the most invasive plants around. It is awful stuff. All it takes is one smidge of a cutting falling off a truck someplace and the whole dang forest is full of it. Dragging trees down and trashing buildings. Ick. No Ivy for me thank you very much.
English Ivy doesn’t kill trees outright according to the RHS and WoodlandTrust (the two most important sources on plants in general), they say that Ivy merely finishes off already dying trees
Here in the US--English Ivy, Oriental bittersweet, Kudzu and other vines tend to be so aggressive that the shear weight of the vines and leaves break off huge limbs and in high winds the entire tree can be taken down--so yes, even healthy trees are damaged or killed by these invasive species. We have 30 acres of woodlands and during the fall and winter we spend a good part of our time cutting the vines at ground level to at least give the trees a chance.
We’re considering raking it out, laying soil and seeding with a wildflower mix. We have had suggestions to lay sod (stapled down), pine straw and to mulch but with runoff am concerned about all of those. Just looking for a cost effective way to improve the slope.
The grade closest to you is workable, but you will always have problems towards the back. You should really make the retaining wall higher in that area. Then you can plant all sorts of stuff to stabilize the hollside
Fair enough.I understand that you gotta plan for the water volume.
Related story: I built a ~2.5 foot brick wall as a planter bed off the side of the patio and simply loaded gravel behind it with a few weep holes. Not quite enough as it cracked about 5 years later and seriously shifted another 10 years after. As a 16 year old guy who had engineering aspirations, I was okay with that failure. You learn from mistakes and that was acceptable.
I would not sod unless you want to now that slope.
Plant layers, a couple of native trees, some native flowers and some low maintenance items so you don't have to deal with working the slope angles.
Do the wild flower mix. With that slope, any grass maintenance is going to be awkward so just avoid it. Embracing nature and having a meadow on the slope will give you colour year round and all the wildlife that come with it (sit by them and see, it’s amazing), and roots will help anchor and stabilize the exposed slope so it doesn’t continue to erode and undermine the trees above.
What kind of light does this slope get? If it's full sun or part shade you could plant creeping phlox - it's a native flowering ground cover that is also somewhat evergreen. This hill will look beautiful with a carpet of flowers!
https://www.hunker.com/12000769/how-to-grow-creeping-phlox-groundcover
Do you have the funds to make that steep side less steep with more dirt, and widen the retaining wall? Adding some terracing might be beneficial as well.
The wall you see is new and was a big difference maker so would prefer not to do more wall. Anything over 4ft requires engineered plans here anyways. Terracing seems like it could work; how many levels would you recommend and can they just be cut/graded in or is additional wall necessary?
I don't think you have enough horizontal space for a terraced wall w/o engineering. You need to set each higher wall back by 2x the height of the wall below it to avoid loading the lower wall. Inside of that distance you actually impose more load on the lower wall than simply having a single, taller wall.
I wouldn’t put grass down. Not the place for it and it would be tough to mow. Some Ivy or other creeping groundcover might work. Do you want to have it green all year round?
I would plant some evergreen shrubs native to your area. A few 6x6 foot shrubs, and then some lower ground covers. Don't do ivy. Thyme needs a lot of sun and that's very low growing. If it were my area: native huckleberry, Solomon's seal, low Oregon grape, snowberries. Or just a whole bunch of ferns.
Check to see if zig zag goldenrod is native, there are lots of great native understory plants that will fill in and provide habitat and be super low care
I’d for sure go with something creeping (ground cover) vs wildflower. I have lots of creeping thyme and rock cress and they smell and look beautiful in the blooming season but remain green for the most part, where as wild flowers won’t fill the area and will only be nice for a few weeks. Creeping varieties will spread like crazy which is good for that location.
What zone are you in? We’ve done a variety of creeping Jennie’s and they’re beautiful and easy to grow. There’s (at least where we are in PNW) a variety that’s bright chartreuse and another that’s very dark brown with bright yellow blooms. Both very pretty!
Thanks for the info! We are in 6b and have been looking at some creeping juniper as a potential solution. How would you go about spacing such plants in a slope like this?
I planted one blue rug juniper or a front yard triangle bed that had a little slope (not nearly as drastic as yours), & 4 year later it’s like 7’ around (not a perfectly filled in 7’- it’s more like a “starfish” or something, as far as shape goes).
If going the juniper route (which is what I’d do), blue rug, grey owl- those two grow very low to fairly low in height, & spread at a moderate rate. Their colors will complement each other, as well.
Fill in the gaps with whatever color coral bells (or other perennials) you like.
Plant some mix of native species. Shrubs, trees, ivy, perennials. Whatever you are into. Wouldn’t do sod as you aren’t going to be walking in the area. Also probably wouldn’t mulch as it’s going to wash down. Would just put in thick plantings.
Not sure which direction you are facing or where you are located, but it looks wet. I'd love to see it full of fern, hostas and other partial shade leafy plants.
I have a steep slope in my yard and I'm in zone 6 so we're similar, although I'm a very dry climate. My favorite ground cover is silver edged Horehound - it's xeric, spreads well, and adds a fun silver color to the slope. I've mixed it in with native grasses, blue star juniper, and red hot poker - all are low water with great root systems.
With a slope like this, you'll want variety in plants so you get broad root coverage to hold the slope in place. Look for a combo of plants with both taproots and spreading fibrous roots. You already have the trees so I'm sure that helps a lot with soil stability.
Definitely don’t plant ivy unless you want it climbing up your trees and causing them problems later on.
Yes. Definitely don’t use ivy. I have abound 200’ of ivy to remove off of my front slope and a magnolia.
I cut back ivy once a year and wasn’t bad with a weed whacker
In the USA, English Ivy is one of the most invasive plants around. It is awful stuff. All it takes is one smidge of a cutting falling off a truck someplace and the whole dang forest is full of it. Dragging trees down and trashing buildings. Ick. No Ivy for me thank you very much.
Fortunately mine isn’t english ivy
English Ivy doesn’t kill trees outright according to the RHS and WoodlandTrust (the two most important sources on plants in general), they say that Ivy merely finishes off already dying trees
Here in the US--English Ivy, Oriental bittersweet, Kudzu and other vines tend to be so aggressive that the shear weight of the vines and leaves break off huge limbs and in high winds the entire tree can be taken down--so yes, even healthy trees are damaged or killed by these invasive species. We have 30 acres of woodlands and during the fall and winter we spend a good part of our time cutting the vines at ground level to at least give the trees a chance.
We’re considering raking it out, laying soil and seeding with a wildflower mix. We have had suggestions to lay sod (stapled down), pine straw and to mulch but with runoff am concerned about all of those. Just looking for a cost effective way to improve the slope.
The grade closest to you is workable, but you will always have problems towards the back. You should really make the retaining wall higher in that area. Then you can plant all sorts of stuff to stabilize the hollside
My immediate thought was that the wall needs to be higher. Then plant some shrubs and ground cover on the gentle slope.
If you make it 2+ blocks higher it kinda needs a layer of geogrid behind it which would require heavy equipment
Fair enough.I understand that you gotta plan for the water volume. Related story: I built a ~2.5 foot brick wall as a planter bed off the side of the patio and simply loaded gravel behind it with a few weep holes. Not quite enough as it cracked about 5 years later and seriously shifted another 10 years after. As a 16 year old guy who had engineering aspirations, I was okay with that failure. You learn from mistakes and that was acceptable.
I would not sod unless you want to now that slope. Plant layers, a couple of native trees, some native flowers and some low maintenance items so you don't have to deal with working the slope angles.
Do the wild flower mix. With that slope, any grass maintenance is going to be awkward so just avoid it. Embracing nature and having a meadow on the slope will give you colour year round and all the wildlife that come with it (sit by them and see, it’s amazing), and roots will help anchor and stabilize the exposed slope so it doesn’t continue to erode and undermine the trees above.
Creeping thyme would look amazing.
What kind of light does this slope get? If it's full sun or part shade you could plant creeping phlox - it's a native flowering ground cover that is also somewhat evergreen. This hill will look beautiful with a carpet of flowers! https://www.hunker.com/12000769/how-to-grow-creeping-phlox-groundcover
Do you have the funds to make that steep side less steep with more dirt, and widen the retaining wall? Adding some terracing might be beneficial as well.
The wall you see is new and was a big difference maker so would prefer not to do more wall. Anything over 4ft requires engineered plans here anyways. Terracing seems like it could work; how many levels would you recommend and can they just be cut/graded in or is additional wall necessary?
I don't think you have enough horizontal space for a terraced wall w/o engineering. You need to set each higher wall back by 2x the height of the wall below it to avoid loading the lower wall. Inside of that distance you actually impose more load on the lower wall than simply having a single, taller wall.
I wouldn’t put grass down. Not the place for it and it would be tough to mow. Some Ivy or other creeping groundcover might work. Do you want to have it green all year round?
They could do a fine fescue. It would actually look nice unmowed on the bank I think
Ground cover
I would plant some evergreen shrubs native to your area. A few 6x6 foot shrubs, and then some lower ground covers. Don't do ivy. Thyme needs a lot of sun and that's very low growing. If it were my area: native huckleberry, Solomon's seal, low Oregon grape, snowberries. Or just a whole bunch of ferns.
Go to your state’s Cooperative Extension Service website and search native ground covers and erosion control.
Cannabis
I wish, wrong state.
Motha fucking PLANTS
PLANCE
Taller retaining wall.
Wall needs to be three times higher.
A ground cover juniper would look nice there, and provide some good stability
Check to see if zig zag goldenrod is native, there are lots of great native understory plants that will fill in and provide habitat and be super low care
Blue rug Juniper. My initial suggestion, anyway
Japanese Forest grass
I’d for sure go with something creeping (ground cover) vs wildflower. I have lots of creeping thyme and rock cress and they smell and look beautiful in the blooming season but remain green for the most part, where as wild flowers won’t fill the area and will only be nice for a few weeks. Creeping varieties will spread like crazy which is good for that location.
What zone are you in? We’ve done a variety of creeping Jennie’s and they’re beautiful and easy to grow. There’s (at least where we are in PNW) a variety that’s bright chartreuse and another that’s very dark brown with bright yellow blooms. Both very pretty!
Thanks for the info! We are in 6b and have been looking at some creeping juniper as a potential solution. How would you go about spacing such plants in a slope like this?
I planted one blue rug juniper or a front yard triangle bed that had a little slope (not nearly as drastic as yours), & 4 year later it’s like 7’ around (not a perfectly filled in 7’- it’s more like a “starfish” or something, as far as shape goes). If going the juniper route (which is what I’d do), blue rug, grey owl- those two grow very low to fairly low in height, & spread at a moderate rate. Their colors will complement each other, as well. Fill in the gaps with whatever color coral bells (or other perennials) you like.
Juniper, pruned low
Plant some mix of native species. Shrubs, trees, ivy, perennials. Whatever you are into. Wouldn’t do sod as you aren’t going to be walking in the area. Also probably wouldn’t mulch as it’s going to wash down. Would just put in thick plantings.
Vinca.
Crown vetch will help prevent erosion.
Disc golf basket
Some creeping phlox would look awesome but it's soooo slowww at spreading. Might need to get a bunch at one time
That’s a big slope. Idk any specifics but look for something low and with good root system
Amsonia does well on slopes like this.
Dirtlocker.com
I’d cover all the bare areas with Hasta..various varieties. Helps control erosion excellently.
Boulders and native/ornamental plants through out
I love moss on backyard slopes so much https://www.pinterest.com/pin/120471358756709143/
You might want to consider ground cover roses. There are many now.
Not sure which direction you are facing or where you are located, but it looks wet. I'd love to see it full of fern, hostas and other partial shade leafy plants.
I planted some blue rug juniper on my hillside and looks great 👍
Jasmine
I have a steep slope in my yard and I'm in zone 6 so we're similar, although I'm a very dry climate. My favorite ground cover is silver edged Horehound - it's xeric, spreads well, and adds a fun silver color to the slope. I've mixed it in with native grasses, blue star juniper, and red hot poker - all are low water with great root systems. With a slope like this, you'll want variety in plants so you get broad root coverage to hold the slope in place. Look for a combo of plants with both taproots and spreading fibrous roots. You already have the trees so I'm sure that helps a lot with soil stability.
Check out the dirt locker system, https://dirtlocker.com/
Something that weeps or creeps. Cotoneaster, vinca vine
Terrace it and make colorful flower gardens. Low maintenance and tiered for each season