I think cannas work.
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Yes, I think we've said previously that having grass growing to the rocks is the primary source of weed #1: grass, in the rocks. And it's growing particularly well at the rocks because the rocks offer cool, moist harbourage for roots, and of course because water flows downhill...

If you want to put a bench there, then you'll have to do some ground scaping, digging into the slope to create a flat area. For that you could pull up all the grass at once to replace with hardscape.

If you want to make it a mulched bed, you could actually do that gradually or partially. Pull out the grass nearest the rocks first and make that a bed, get your plants started and do your mulching. Maybe that will leave a mowable area. If not, you could work your way up and remove the rest of the grass later. This gradual approach would be good in part because it's getting to the end of planting season, and you will have to baby any new plants put in when it is already hot.

Karin L

Because of the confined size and the slope, it does not look like a good site for a log swing.

I'd shape the edge of the lawn (with a spade) as shown by the green line and then the planting area would be good for whatever you want to grow there. If you don't come up with a good weed control strategy, you'll be forever plagued by them. Some daylilies seem like they could be nice and would grow well. Mulch alone works for a while but gets tiresome to look at and to keep adding. Plants look better.

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Thanks for the input! Yardvaark, that's nice and very do-able. I planted some phlox on another rock wall last year, and am thrilled with how it has turned out. I thought about doing this here, too. Since I took these pics, I've been working on weeding...yanking out by hand. Love daylilies too! The swing was my first thought, but it would take some leveling work, and would just look too big for that spot. I really do have a nice backyard...in my opinion anyway, but it needs a lot of work with controlling weeds, and trying to set things up in a way that's a bit easier maintenance than it is now. My deck is small, but big enough for what we need it for, and I have found I use it a lot.

I am not liking the stairs....we had all this stuff laying around and hubby wanted to try to make use of it rather than getting rid of it. Just cement blocks with pavers inside. I've also got a lilac bush on the right side of the pic...my grandfather had planted it for me.... but for whatever reason I can't come up with, I almost lost it a couple years ago.... and now this year I see curled up leaves with black I'm sure from frost. We have had a most odd spring.

Have a lot of work back here! Also need to stain the deck this year too...

One thing nice about Daylilies is there being many hobbyists who grow them with a passion and sell their ever burgeoning excess inexpensively. Asking around in the local gardening circles will usually turn up a name or two who's not far away. I've acquired large varieties of named hybrids like this.

The steps look a little treacherous. An inexpensive set of wood steps would would be easy to make with pre-cut step stringers from home depot.

I agree about the steps. We built the deck ourselves, and hubby could easily build steps....he's being a little stubborn...he likes these! I do not. Working on that part!