from afar

nicer slope where crown vetch was planted....looks like hay is coming up

sideview

And front of house to give idea of background and soon need ideas of front landscape once the mess of a hillside is solved.

What is your budget for the landscaping? Have you considered terracing the slope?

I think you might be overreacting to the construction uglies. When the earth's upholstery is removed and you see the springs and stuffing, it's not pretty. But once a fabric of plants covers the wounds, that it was ever an eyesore will quickly leave your thoughts. It's a matter of hydroseeding or planting some reasonable groundcover type plant. You will probably get some good suggestions from the local landscapers.

Ask the professionals about heavy rains, erosion and the possiblity of needing a real retaining wall. Better to know now.

Thank u all. We have had soome heavy rains...hoping once we get something to grow itcwill help w less erosion...it hasnt been too bad. I can envision a wall in 5 years..our budget is tight right now...we need lots to do. Thank u ya4dvaark , u give me some hope and perspective. What ground covers would u recommend. And where do u get them. Only one lanscapershowed so far...not looking good. We could do a basic covering ourselves I need be to get the dirt look away.

I don't think you'd be looking for a tidy groundcover like one might have in a refined garden, but something a little more "wild" for that bank ... like lespedeza, grasses, wildflowers ... things that could be seeded. things with arching forms that look good cascading down hillsides. I would still push for suggestions from local landscapers. Make more calls. It would be helpful to know what is being used locally for hydroseeding banks.

This post was edited by Yardvaark on Sat, May 11, 13 at 0:19

Creeping rosemary is very nice. It works well on our hillsides, but I'd stay away from junipers! They do help to retain the soil, but they grow huge and overtake everything!

Some of our neighbors have some hot purple and orange ice plants that are beautiful! I discovered we have some too, but you'd never know because of the junipers.

Oh! I forgot! A lot of our hillside (1.4 acres) has railroad ties used as terraces. They are secured with rebar and are on their sides.

This is an ugly hillside I had to do something with. This is Chocolate Chip Ajuga. Each plant started off really tiny, after one season this is how big it's gotten. I don't think it can just be neglected though unless you get enough rainfall from mother nature. I do have to water them during dry spells, but they are giving an awesome flower show right now, and have grown like crazy. Not sure if this helps your situation or not.

Here it is in bloom now

This was mid-summer last year, first year of planting. The plants even started out much smaller than what you see here. They were just tiny plugs. Just trying to show you how fast they grew. I did find that they established better if I put them on a timed sprinkler in the morning, every other day. When I first planted them I didn't give them a lot of water, and many of the plugs wouldn't establish and would die out on me. Once I put them on a sprinkler they did much better for me.