Guide to Guide to Hillside Landscaping Turn a hard-to-care-for slope into a lush, color-rich garden with our comprehensive plant list, easy gardening tips, and a fast garden planting plan. Ready, set, plant!
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One of the easiest and least expensive ways to combat a slope is to plant it. Terraces and retaining walls can be employed to craft flat spaces on a slope, but they often require a significant investment of time and money. Planting a slope is easier than you think, especially with this helpful advice from our garden experts.
spring. Add ornamental grasses and blooming groundcovers for summer interest. Be sure to include plants that offer colorful foliage in fall and include evergreens for winter interest.
Search Out Groundcovers
Groundcover plants are especially useful on slopes because they practically care for themselves. They maintain a low stature and don’t require mowing like grass. Groundcovers slowly creep over the soil surface putting down roots as they go. The roots hold soil in place and minimize erosion. For faster coverage on an open, exposed site, plant groundcovers slightly closer together than recommended on the plant label.
Go for Native Plants
Native plants are some of the best picks for surviving and thriving in your particular area. These wild varieties require little coddling and grow with minimal care. No deadheading and very little pruning needed. Inquire with your local extension service to learn what species are native to your area. Note: Some native plants can get weedy if they’re grown in rich soil and watered well; they’re used to having to fend for themselves in the wild.
Know Your Soil
A beautiful garden begins with rich soil—so take a closer look at your ground. Turn over a shovel full of soil and examine its texture. Does it fall apart easily? If it does and has a gritty texture, your soil has a sandy texture. If it forms a clod when turned over and has a sticky texture, it likely has a clay texture. Soil that crumbles easily and is not gritty or sticky is often loam. Loam is excellent garden soil and is a great medium for growing hundreds of plants. Slowdraining clay soil and low-nutrient sandy soil present some limitations, but nothing that you can’t overcome.
Plant Pockets of Interest
The uneven terrain of a slope makes the physical act of planting a challenge. There is no need to perform acrobatics to intensely plant the entire slope. Instead, plant small pockets of interest and then encourage groundcover plants to ramble among the spaces between your more cultivated sections.
Go Year-Round
When choosing plants to cover your hillside, be sure to create a combination that offers interest in every month of the year (especially winter, so the slope isn’t bare ground). Include bulbs for a pretty burst of color in
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A planting pocket need not be a big deal: Try just a couple of easy-care perennials and a small shrub.
garden—many gardeners like how a fresh layer of compost spruces up the garden in spring.
Add a Stream
Prevent Runoff
A slope is a natural site for a water feature. Blanket the stream channel with pond liner. Use boulders and small stones to mask the edge of the liner and help the stream blend into the surrounding slope. Use a recirculating pump to move water back up to the top of your stream. Finish it off by adding plants— then just enjoy the delightful water music resonating from the slope.
Most plants benefit from supplemental watering for at least six weeks after planting. Prevent excessive runoff on a slope by watering with a drip or soaker hose.
Consider Microclimates on Your Slope
Slopes are unique in that the growing conditions at the top of the slope may differ greatly from the conditions at the bottom. Cold air often sinks to the bottom of the slope. Tender plants may not survive there but they will often be fine near the top of the slope.
Slow the Flow
Baffles, or miniature terraces, created with landscape edging or timbers set horizontally across a slope, slow water runoff. While mulch tends to wash downhill on a steep bare slope, it stays in place when baffles help control the flow of water. Check for gullies after a heavy rainfall, and install additional baffles if needed.
Test Garden Tip:
Avoid planting in straight rows on a slope. Water will run straight down the hill, taking soil with it. Instead stagger plantings to divert water.
Compost Is Key
Spread a 2-inch-deep layer of welldecomposed compost over the garden every year. Compost adds valuable nutrients to the soil and acts as an insulator by moderating the soil temperature and preventing moisture loss, which is especially important in dry gardens. It doesn’t matter when you add compost to your
Free Garden Plan
For more ideas on landscaping your slope, download our free garden plan. http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/specialspots/colorful-slope-garden-plan/
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20 Top Plants for Slopes
Turn your slope into a lively display of color and texture using these easy-to-grow shrubs and perennials. Many offer nesting materials and food for wildlife. In short order, your slope will come alive with flowers, birds, and butterflies.
Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Creeping juniper (Juniperus selections)
Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)
Mugo pine (Pinus mugo selections)
Zones: 3-8 Size: 3–6 feet tall and wide A North American native, black chokeberry has dainty clusters of white flowers in spring that are followed by dark purple to black fruit in late summer. The green foliage turns brilliant red in autumn. An adaptable plant, black chokeberry thrives in full sun or part shade and moist to dry soil. It spreads slowly to form a broad thicket.
Zones: 2-9 Size: 6–12 inches tall and 6 feet wide A tough evergreen, creeping juniper is a great plant for filling open soil on a slope. Its scaly foliage is feathery and graceful. Cultivars are available in shades of green, blue-green, and gray. In winter, creeping juniper takes on a shade of gray or purple. Try ‘Blue Rug’ for its silver-blue foliage that turns pale purple in winter.
Zones: 3-9 Size: 5 feet tall and 10 feet wide Fragrant sumac will catch your eye in autumn—its shiny green foliage turns bright red-purple in fall. This North American native forms a dense, low-growing colony ideal for blanketing a slope with color and texture. Fragrant sumac grows well in full sun or part shade. ‘Gro-Low’ adapts to a variety of growing conditions and grows about 2 feet tall and spreads to 8 feet wide.
Zones: 3-7 Size: 1–3 feet tall and 10 feet wide Low-growing cultivars of this needled evergreen add valuable texture to slope gardens. Look for 3-foot-tall ‘Mops’: It has lovely dark green needles and maintains a compact, rounded habit. A groundcover cultivar called var. pumilio grows 1–2 feet tall and spreads 10 feet wide. Mugo pine’s evergreen foliage is also ideal for holding ground in place over the winter.
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20 Top Plants for Slopes continued from page 4
Ajuga selections
Potentilla selections
Zones: 2-7 Size: 1–2 feet tall and 3 feet wide Neat and tidy foliage and charming flowers that resemble anemones ensure that potentilla always brings interest to the garden. Available in a broad color range, the flowers bloom over a long period of time from late spring to autumn. When the leaves drop in fall, a reddish peeling bark is revealed. Potentilla grows best in sun and tolerates drought well.
Zones: 4-10 Size: 4–9 inches tall and 6–18 inches wide Ajuga is one of the best groundcovers around. Tough and adaptable, it thrives in sun (if it gets enough moisture), part sun, or shade. Also known as bugleweed, ajuga forms a 6-inch-tall mat of glossy leaves that always look neat and fresh. Many varieties (such as ‘Burgundy Glow’) offer colorful variegated leaves marked with shades of purple, white, silver, cream, or pink. Short flower spikes adorn the plants in spring to early summer. Ajuga is great for the front of beds and borders, under leggy shrubs or small
Blanket flower (Gaillardia selections)
Barrenwort (Epimedium)
Zones: 3-11 Size: 6 inches tall and 2 feet wide A delightfully cheerful and long-blooming plant, blanket flower produces single daisy flowers through most of the summer and well into fall. It tolerates light frost and is seldom eaten by deer or rabbits. Blanket flower thrives in well-drained soil and full sun. ‘Fanfare’ is a favorite variety; it has bright red petals tipped with yellow.
Zones: 4-8 Size: 6–18 inches tall and 12–24 inches wide A graceful, dense groundcover plant, barrenwort thrives in dry shade beneath shallow-rooted trees. It has heart-shape foliage and bears dainty flowers in slender stalks. Look for red barrenwort (Epimedium x rubrum). Its foliage is red along the edges and has rosy undertones. The foliage color intensifies where it receives ample sun before trees leaf out in spring.
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trees, or just about you want to cover t with attractive foliage flowers. Image: 101455083
20 Top Plants for Slopes continued from page 5
Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata)
Creeping sedum (Sedum selections)
Daylily (Hemerocallis selections)
Lamium selections
Zones: 3-8 Size: 6 inches tall and 3–4 feet wide Ring in spring with a carpet of creeping phlox. This low-growing, long-lasting perennial is covered with white, pink, or purple blooms for weeks in early spring. After the flowers fade, its evergreen foliage creates a weed-preventing mat of green color. If plants take on a ragged appearance, cut the long stems back by half after they bloom and fertilize plants or a 2-inch-layer of compost spread over the root zone.
Zones: 3-9 Size: 3–6 inches tall and 2–3 feet wide Sedum’s leaves store water that power plants through drought. Varieties are available with green, blue, or chartreuse foliage. When shopping for sedum, you’ll find that there are many upright cultivars that grow 1–3 feet tall. They are excellent selections for a slope but groundcover types, such as ‘Angelina’ sedum and Kamchatka sedum, are even more useful as they quickly scramble over open soil forming a dense mat of lovely foliage.
Zones: 3-10 Size: 1–4 feet tall and 1–3 feet wide Daylilies are so easy to row that you’ll often find them growing in ditches and fields, escapees from gardens. Their tenacious characteristics make them great plants for tough landscape conditions like slopes. There are thousands of cultivars in a range of flower sizes, forms, and plant heights. Choose your favorite and add a delightful splash of color to your slope garden.
Zones: 4-8 Size: 8–24 inches tall and 3 feet wide Abundant flowers and attractive foliage make lamium a perfect pick for shaded slopes. Lamium’s green leaves are often splashed with silver or they are silver-rimmed or veined with emerald. Its bright white or pink flowers begin blooming in early summer and continue through fall. lamium spreads slowly. If it creeps out of bounds, simply pull out the offending stems.
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20 Top Plants for Slopes continued from page 6
Hosta selections
Lavender (Lavandula selections)
Lilyturf (Liriope)
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Zones: 3-9 Size: 6–60 inches tall and 12–48 inches wide Cover a low-light slope with hosta: one easiest plants to grow. There are hundreds of different cultivars readily available, many of which spread quickly to form sizeable clumps. Or select the larger varieties, which can spread 6 feet wide, to cover a lot of area quickly. Variegated selections add extra color with their markings of cream, white, or gold.
Zones: 5-10 Size: 1–3 feet tall and wide Aromatic lavender fills the garden with lovely fragrance. It’s purple blooms debut in early summer and last until fall. The plant’s silver-green foliage and woody stems give it garden presence year-round. Lavender tolerates drought, heat, and wind but it doesn’t like poor drainage. Plant it near the top of a slope where water drains away quickly.
Zones: 5-10 Size: 1 foot tall and 2 feet wide Grasslike lilyturf is a great alternative to traditional grass on a slope. Lilyturf’s dense tufts of almost evergreen leaves rarely grow more than 1 foot tall. The graceful, arching blades are often striped with yellow or cream. In mid- to late summer it produces pretty spikes of pale violet to white flowers that are followed by blue-black, berrylike fruit. Lilyturf is exceptionally drought tolerant and can be invasive.
Zones: 2-7 Size: 2–4 feet tall and 1 foot wide A tough but graceful prairie plant, little bluestem is gorgeous when backlit by the sun, especially in autumn when it turns a glorious red or burgundy. In spring and summer little bluestem has bluish or green stems and produces tan flower spikelets, which turn silvery white as they age. Use little bluestem as a pleasing vertical accent on your slope landscape. Pair it with black chokeberry and you’ll create a delightful bird habitat.
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20 Top Plants for Slopes continued from page 7
Pachysandra terminalis
Switchgrass (Panicum selections)
Wild ginger (Asarum canadense)
Yucca filamentosa
Zones: 4-9 Size: 8–12 inches tall and 4–6 feet wide Carpet part of your slope with whorls of pachysandra’s neat and tidy evergreen foliage. This attractive and durable groundcover grows well in sun or shade and well-drained soil. It prefers moist soil where it will quickly expand to several feet wide. Plant it near the bottom of a slope where the soil is often moist. And be sure to take time to enjoy its fragrant white flowers in spring.
Zones: 5-9 Size: 2–5 feet tall and 1–4 feet wide Add motion to a slope with switchgrass. In spring and early summer the green, purplish, or bluish leaves of these mostly upright grasses sway gently in the wind. In late summer they are decorated with lightly branched clusters of flowers. The flowers turn to airy seed heads and the foliage takes on dramatic red, yellow, or gold tones in fall. The grass turns buff in winter.
Zones: 3-9 Size: 1 foot tall and 2 feet wide A wonderful North American native plant for dry shade, wild ginger offers fuzzy heart-shape leaves. It slowly spreads to form a dense carpet of green from spring to fall and does a fine job of suppressing weeds. It bears fragrant purple-brown flowers in the early spring, but they’re usually hidden under the lovely foliage.
Zones: 4-11 Size: 2–3 feet tall and 4–6 feet wide Perfect for adding interest to the dry top of a slope, yucca’s evergreen stiff, sharply pointed leaves are striking. Add extra interest to the landscape by selecting varieties with variegated foliage. It produces large spires of bird-attracting white flowers in summer. Free-draining soil and sun is all yuccas require.
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