#270368
Mar 23rd, 2009 at 07:24 AM
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Joined: Mar 2009
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My wife and I bought our first house last April (2008) and have delved into the life of DIY for everything so far. Other than laying new mulch and cutting back shrubs, we are utterly clueless as to what to plant. I managed to initiate a lawn care program last year and it is looking good, however, I have a hillside in the back yard that is roughly a 30-40% grade (too steep for riding mower) and is currently a pleasant mixture of hard dirt, rocks and weeds. The weeds grow about 4 foot tall and I went all Texas chainsaw on them twice last year with my weed whacker (took about 2 hours each time) because the push mower kept hitting bumps and rocks. I am looking mostly for ideas of what to use to cover this problem spot which covers approximately 500sq ft. or more. We do not like the idea of moss or something that needs to be dug out (or really cut back) every year. We would like to get something to just plant and do as little maintenance as possible. I had thought about just doing whatever the wildflower mix is that they plant on the highway medians, but, like I said, my wife and I have no experience in gardening. I am turning to you all for help! Thank you in advance!
Last edited by PANewGrower; Mar 23rd, 2009 at 07:24 AM.
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 12,160
Official Taste Tester
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Official Taste Tester
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 12,160 |
You have a rock garden in the making you lucky gardeners you. I bought in June of last year and the entire property is on a steep grade so I know what you are saying. No top soil is going to stay there until you have something to hold it in place.
Easy care is to choose a ground cover that is native to you area and just let it have your hill. Just choose one that isn't too invasive. That can be a problem with groundcovers. I like the thyme and mint families of groundcovers but then I put up with a certain amount of invasivness.
Good luck with your house.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,236
HandyMa'am
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HandyMa'am
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,236 |
Hi there. :)
The the hill in full sun? partial shade? I live in PA also...in Lycoming County.
What do you think about the idea of a rock garden? You could plant all kinds of stuff in there that you wouldn't have to do much to them. There are also ground covers that don't need much maintenance. I'll do some looking in my books later today as I'm just taking a break from some yard work right now.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,477
Deep Purple
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Deep Purple
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,477 |
suggestions really depend on what kind of sun there is over the area. plus what zone are you in? probably 5, might be 6. another thing to consider is how moist the area is. i'm assuming you have clay soil like most of us here in pennsy do.
can you post a pic of the area?
first you'll need to clear out whatever weedy things are currently there...mark off the area in sections and do one at a time over the course of the summer (no need to go completely overboard and try to get it all done at one time - especially since there are rocks there as that will slow you down a bit).
you could easily do a mix of different types of plants. some groundcover types with some bulbs and perennials mixed in so that you have visual interest throughout the growing season - and even through part of the winter (depending on what you put in). do you want to put in anything like a birdfeeder or an arbor or anything like that? are you looking to attract butterfly's or a specific bird or birds?
the 'wildflower' mixes tend to have lots of things that are invasive as well as a lot of things that are annuals, so, it's really not worth it.
groundcovers i'll have to think about.
you could do some bulbs - crocus, daffodils, tulips, iris, lily (both daylily and oriental types). most crocus bloom early spring and there are a couple that bloom in fall. daff's are early spring. tulips can be early to mid spring. iris late spring/early summer (some types rebloom, too) and the different lilies bloom anywhere from early summer to early fall.
perennial plants like coneflower, daisy, asters, chrysanthemums would work...they don't require too much maintenance - just some deadheading to get them to bloom again (and you don't have to do that if you don't feel like it). i leave the last blooms on to go to seed so the birds have something to eat over winter). a little cleaning out in early spring and they're good to go for the new season.
same with stonecrop sedums (they bloom in fall) - i leave them go over winter (the dried flower heads look nice) and clear out the dried off stuff in early spring. there are other types of sedum that are groundcovers, too. most are very hardy here in pa.
mixing different types of plants will give you good coverage of the area and fairly quickly, too (within a few years). most of the bulbs i've mentioned will 'naturalize' which means they will grow more bulbs over the years and then you can dig up and split them out (helps to keep costs down and you get better coverage quicker - rather than leaving them completely to their own devices).
the perennial plants can also be split out every couple of years AND you can take the dried seedheads and either plant the whole head or dislodge the seeds and plant them.
black-eyed susan's are a good one, too. some are perennial, some bi-ennial and some annual...most are the bi-ennial type, though. that means they grow the first year yet don't bloom and then they bloom the second year and then the plant dies. which is no big deal because they self-seed so easily that you'll have new plants the following year without even consciously trying for them. (and you can always collect a couple of dried seedheads to make sure you have seeds for the next year).
dianthus is a large group of plants and most are perennial and they bloom throughout the season. sweet william and 'pinks' are two of my favs from that group.
you could also throw in a rose bush or two or do a rambler type if you want to put in an arbor or even a low fence and have the rambler grow across the top of it. could also do clematis that way. there is some regular maintenance that's needed for roses and clematis - just some trimming on a yearly basis which is not too much extra work, really.
everything above needs full sun.
if the area is shady, hosta, heuchera, helleobore (spelling?) and mayapple (native to pa) are good. some iris like shade and some lily, too. lily of the valley in particular likes shade (can be invasive, yet, i've got them and they've not gone overboard where i have them). ferns are another great shade plant - lots and lots of different types - some get kind of tall and others stay low and some have nice coloring - japanese painted fern, for example.
Zone 6b
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Joined: Mar 2009
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I am close to you in Pittsburgh. For my hillside to make my life easy the first year I covered the hillside with cardboard. I had lots of that from the move. I put some rocks and mulch on it. By the next summer all the weeds were dead and I had a clean slate to begin. I used the plants that Joclyn's suggested above. I put some topsoil directly over the cardboard and started planting. I planted Iris, daylilies, for height and structrue I planted some bushes butterfly bushes, forsythia bush, and rose of sharon. I planted the hostas, and ferns under and around the bushes. I went crazy with the bulbs ( spring bulbs, Lilies Asiatics for early spring, Oriental Lilies for summer). These are all very hardy plants in our area and grow fast. I have a fast growing sedum that blooms yellow late spring and it is a fast spreader and not invasive because it has a shallow root system. The best thing was over planting there was so many plants down there that there was no room for weeds to grow. LOL
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