Planting on a Steep Slope

[Alex H]

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

[Brooklyn1]

Terrace.

[Alex H]

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

[Brooklyn1]

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

[David Hare-Scott]

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

[Bud]

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.

[Brooklyn1]

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

[songbird]

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

[Nad R]

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.

[Alex H]

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

[Billy]

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.

====

[lannerman]

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

[Billy]

You may want to take a look at

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.

[Billy]

How about 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.