Hi everyone!

My husband and I have been living in our home for 10 years. The bane
of our existence is the front hill, it is about 12 feet high with an
80 degree angle (our roof is almost level with the street). Mowing is
virtually impossible and while terracing is our eventual aim, at the
moment we're looking for some ground cover suggestions to hold us over
until we can terrace. I AM LOOKING FOR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, NOT
CATALOG SUGGESTIONS. I have all the gardening and plant catalogs you
can imagine. Personal experience is what I need. Here's some
additional information:

This hill gets a mixture of mostly partial to full shade with areas
receiving zero to six hours of morning sun.

Because of the steepness of the hill, something that is tough enough
to provide erosion control is necessary. It will also need to have
the ability to choke out weeds since the steep hill makes weeding
difficult.

This hill is surrounded by pine trees, so a vine-y ground cover won't
work (It would be too difficult to rake out the pine straw).

Since the hill is between the house and the street, something like
crown vetch would be a little too wild and unkempt. We'd like to keep
the height around 6" or less.

We live on the border of zone 7 & 8, hot humid summers and mild
winters (but we do get below freezing temperatures). If we can find
something that does well, we're more than happy to water regularly
with a sprinkler.

The soil is generally sandy.

Cost is an issue (this is a big hill to cover) so some plants to start
and the ability to seed the remainder would be the most economical
solution for us.

We're looking at two particular plants, Vinca Minor & Irish Moss.
Does anyone have experience with either of these plants or PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE with any others they can suggest?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Erika

Forgive the top post, please....
Based on your concerns about cost and the fact that you need a temporary
ground cover, I suggest covercrop white clover or Creeping Red Fescue (left
unmowed). Both are good for erosion control, will tolerate shade and drought
(though will need water to get established) and are virtually maintenance
free. They can both be started from seed and worked into the soil when you
are ready to terrace the hill. The only real concern I have is your
reference to hot, humid summers. Depending on how hot and humid, the fescue
would need to be kept relatively dry to survive. Gulf coast hot and humid is
too much, but Wash, DC hot and humid can be tolerated. Suggest consulting
your local County Agent for recommendations.

hth, elizabeth, Baton Rouge, LA ---- who has no catalogs at the moment :-)



"Erika" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone!

My husband and I have been living in our home for 10 years. The bane
of our existence is the front hill, it is about 12 feet high with an
80 degree angle (our roof is almost level with the street). Mowing is
virtually impossible and while terracing is our eventual aim, at the
moment we're looking for some ground cover suggestions to hold us over
until we can terrace. I AM LOOKING FOR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, NOT
CATALOG SUGGESTIONS. I have all the gardening and plant catalogs you
can imagine. Personal experience is what I need. Here's some
additional information:

This hill gets a mixture of mostly partial to full shade with areas
receiving zero to six hours of morning sun.

Because of the steepness of the hill, something that is tough enough
to provide erosion control is necessary. It will also need to have
the ability to choke out weeds since the steep hill makes weeding
difficult.

This hill is surrounded by pine trees, so a vine-y ground cover won't
work (It would be too difficult to rake out the pine straw).

Since the hill is between the house and the street, something like
crown vetch would be a little too wild and unkempt. We'd like to keep
the height around 6" or less.

We live on the border of zone 7 & 8, hot humid summers and mild
winters (but we do get below freezing temperatures). If we can find
something that does well, we're more than happy to water regularly
with a sprinkler.

The soil is generally sandy.

Cost is an issue (this is a big hill to cover) so some plants to start
and the ability to seed the remainder would be the most economical
solution for us.

We're looking at two particular plants, Vinca Minor & Irish Moss.
Does anyone have experience with either of these plants or PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE with any others they can suggest?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Erika

Erika wrote:



We're looking at two particular plants, Vinca Minor & Irish Moss.
Does anyone have experience with either of these plants or PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE with any others they can suggest?

Vinca may work very well for your purpose, although it typically prefers a
soil with higher organic content than a sandy soil (and even moisture
levels). It is also somewhat viney, so I am not sure how easy it would be
to rake pine straw out of it. Mine gets raked a bit in early spring to
remove any remaining fallen leaves, but it's a pretty light raking.

Irish moss (Sagina subulata) is not a true moss and it prefers full sun. I
doubt its ability to do much in the way of erosion control also.

Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae makes an excellent groundcover for
this type of situation - evergreen, tolerates dry shade, spreads nicely,
good for erosion control. But it won't tolerate any foot traffic and may
be difficult to remove the pine straw. OTOH, you could just leave the pine
straw as a mulch.

pam - gardengal