Planting on a Steep Slope
 

One of the boundaries of our garden is a steep slope, about 40 degrees, 2m high bordering a path to a neighbours house. The slope is south facing and quite loose, I guess because of the dryness of the soil. At the moment it is held together with weeds and the odd bit of grass. Here, the climate is such that in the summer the heat is enough to kill most of the vegetation and the erosion starts. Its not helped by the fact that some neighbours use it to come and say hello, when we are working in the garden! At the top of the slope is a large lime tree, which won't help with the moisture content of the soil!

What I'm looking for is low growing, drought resistant planting that will put the neighbours off walking on it. So far we've come up with lavender and rosemary, but these both become woody with age and need to be replaced, which I'd rather not do.

Any other suggestions please?

Regards

Alex

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:49:40 +0000, Alex H
wrote:


One of the boundaries of our garden is a steep slope, about 40 degrees,
2m high bordering a path to a neighbours house. The slope is south
facing and quite loose, I guess because of the dryness of the soil. At
the moment it is held together with weeds and the odd bit of grass.
Here, the climate is such that in the summer the heat is enough to kill
most of the vegetation and the erosion starts. Its not helped by the
fact that some neighbours use it to come and say hello, when we are
working in the garden! At the top of the slope is a large lime tree,
which won't help with the moisture content of the soil!

What I'm looking for is low growing, drought resistant planting that
will put the neighbours off walking on it. So far we've come up with
lavender and rosemary, but these both become woody with age and need to
be replaced, which I'd rather not do.

Any other suggestions please?

Terrace.

That's not really appropriate. This is rural France :-) and the less construction I do the better - I have enough work in the house.

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:30:20 +0000, Alex H
wrote:


Brooklyn1 Wrote:

Terrace.

That's not really appropriate. This is rural France :-) and the less
construction I do the better - I have enough work in the house.

Oh darn... you should have said so... it's common knowlege that the
freedom frogs are lazy.

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

Brooklyn1 wrote:
On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:30:20 +0000, Alex H
wrote:


Brooklyn1 Wrote:

Terrace.

That's not really appropriate. This is rural France :-) and the less
construction I do the better - I have enough work in the house.

Oh darn... you should have said so... it's common knowlege that the
freedom frogs are lazy.

Alex don't mind him, he makes the rest of us look better by acting ignorant,
rude and inconsiderate. If you ever want to study up on being insulting for
no reason here is the master.

David

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

On 2011-03-21, Brooklyn1 wrote:

Terrace.

Take a shovel and do it in your spare time, just a ditch will work. But
how much rain do you get. Makes a big difference.
--
Bud

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:56:45 +0000 (UTC), Bud
wrote:

On 2011-03-21, Brooklyn1 wrote:

Terrace.

Take a shovel and do it in your spare time, just a ditch will work. But
how much rain do you get. Makes a big difference.

A SHOVEL... you gotta be kidding, that froggy is too lazy.

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

Alex H wrote:

What I'm looking for is low growing, drought resistant planting that
will put the neighbours off walking on it. So far we've come up with
lavender and rosemary, but these both become woody with age and need to
be replaced, which I'd rather not do.

Any other suggestions please?

juniper (low spiky evergreen), but it spreads out and
would also need some trimming once in a while.

hens and chicks

any of several sedums (pick a color or mix several).

plant species tulips and other bulbs
underneath. they'd love this sort of
micro climate, use rocks to create
ledges and terraces to create some
variety and to keep things in place.

the bulbs look nice when they peek through
the cracks and rocks in the spring and after
they die back you still have some rocks to
look at instead of a slope. the rocks will
discourage casual foot traffic (or you could
actually put in rock steps with gaps for
plantings).

good luck, :)


songbird

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

songbird wrote:
Alex H wrote:

What I'm looking for is low growing, drought resistant planting that
will put the neighbours off walking on it. So far we've come up with
lavender and rosemary, but these both become woody with age and need to
be replaced, which I'd rather not do.

Any other suggestions please?

juniper (low spiky evergreen), but it spreads out and
would also need some trimming once in a while.

hens and chicks

any of several sedums (pick a color or mix several).

plant species tulips and other bulbs
underneath. they'd love this sort of
micro climate, use rocks to create
ledges and terraces to create some
variety and to keep things in place.

the bulbs look nice when they peek through
the cracks and rocks in the spring and after
they die back you still have some rocks to
look at instead of a slope. the rocks will
discourage casual foot traffic (or you could
actually put in rock steps with gaps for
plantings).

good luck, :)


songbird

Just some thoughts, few people would walk through shrub rose bushes. As for
drought resistant not sure. On a steep slope one could create artificial
landscaping Swales or berms to hold back the water. Creating artificial
Swales are not easy to create.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

That's OK - it always surprise me how many colonials don't understand the meaning of .co.uk. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know where France is :-)

Alex

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

In article ,
Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:30:20 +0000, Alex H
wrote:


Brooklyn1 Wrote:

Terrace.

That's not really appropriate. This is rural France :-) and the less
construction I do the better - I have enough work in the house.

Oh darn... you should have said so... it's common knowlege that the
freedom frogs are lazy.

That reminds me to update my KF, now that the hard drive is up and
running again. I've gotten used to the serenity of a world without
Shelly/Brooklyn1/loon, and his fellow travelers.

Bye guys ;O))


If you like weekends, thank a union.

====
--
---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/3/7/michael_moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZkDikRLQrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyE5wjc4XOw

Hi Alex, What you need is something thats not only vigorous but ideally a plant that will bind the bank as well as covering it. Just the act of covering the bank will help retain some moisture in summer, therefore, I would suggest Rubus rubrifolia. its vigorous but we work on the basis that you can always cut it back !
Lannerman

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

In article ,
Alex H wrote:

'David Hare-Scott[_2_ Wrote:
;915603']Brooklyn1 wrote:-
On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:30:20 +0000, Alex H
wrote:
-

Brooklyn1 Wrote:-

Terrace.-

That's not really appropriate. This is rural France :-) and the less
construction I do the better - I have enough work in the house.-

Oh darn... you should have said so... it's common knowlege that the
freedom frogs are lazy.-

Alex don't mind him, he makes the rest of us look better by acting
ignorant,
rude and inconsiderate. If you ever want to study up on being insulting
for
no reason here is the master.

David

That's OK - it always surprise me how many colonials don't understand
the meaning of .co.uk. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know where France
is :-)

Alex

You may want to take a look at http://www.csu.org/wa/xeri/xeriscape.jsp

Are you with the masses of Brits in Normandy, or the Dordogne?

David is a colonial as well. He is from that place that you sent your
prisoners after the "dust-up" George III had with the Americas.
--
---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/3/7/michael_moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZkDikRLQrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyE5wjc4XOw

Planting on a Steep Slope
 

In article ,
Alex H wrote:

One of the boundaries of our garden is a steep slope, about 40 degrees,
2m high bordering a path to a neighbours house. The slope is south
facing and quite loose, I guess because of the dryness of the soil. At
the moment it is held together with weeds and the odd bit of grass.
Here, the climate is such that in the summer the heat is enough to kill
most of the vegetation and the erosion starts. Its not helped by the
fact that some neighbours use it to come and say hello, when we are
working in the garden! At the top of the slope is a large lime tree,
which won't help with the moisture content of the soil!

What I'm looking for is low growing, drought resistant planting that
will put the neighbours off walking on it. So far we've come up with
lavender and rosemary, but these both become woody with age and need to
be replaced, which I'd rather not do.

Any other suggestions please?

Regards

Alex

How about safflower?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safflower

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.[1]) is a highly branched, herbaceous,
thistle-like annual, usually with many long sharp spines on the leaves.
Plants are 30 to 150*cm tall with globular flower heads (capitula) and
commonly, brilliant yellow, orange or red flowers. Each branch will
usually have from one to five flower heads containing 15 to 20 seeds per
head. Safflower has a strong taproot which enables it to thrive in dry
climates, but the plant is very susceptible to frost injury from stem
elongation to maturity.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vN0--mHug