Scoping out neighborhood slopes

I'm used to gardening on flat plots of land.  Until we moved to our current property almost eight and a half years ago, I'd never dealt with uneven terrain.  While the level changes associated with our newly acquired property gave it character, it also presented challenges I hadn't envisioned.  I've managed to transform the moderate front slope without extreme difficulty but the steeper back slope remains an issue, which isn't to say that I've ignored it.  When we moved in, it consisted of a dirt path and weeds, featuring a couple of fruit trees and a very large Yucca.  We started working on it during the first quarter of 2012 but the earliest wide shot of the space I have was taken in February 2013.

My husband built the stairway out of concrete blocks purchased from a big-box store, working around embedded stone left over from the days this land was part of a rock quarry.  I used wood tree rings left behind by the property's former owner to stabilize the lower slope (below the stairway), added some amendments to the soil, and started planting.  Some of the plants have changed over time and the wood tree ring strings have mostly disintegrated.

Over the years, I continued to focus on the more manageable lower section of the slope, ignoring the ivy and honeysuckle covered area above the stairway. 

The photo on the left was taken in November 2013.  The photo on the right was taken this morning.

Once the giant Yucca elephantipes (visible in the distance in the left-hand photo shown above) was removed in December 2014, creating a flat area on the other side of the lemon tree, I did some work there too. 

Actually, the Yucca came out in stages.  The photo on the left shows the area after the main part of the Yucca's expanse was cut down in December 2014.  The crew that did that work left behind stumps that averaged 3 feet tall.  We had to bring in a second crew in January 2015 to grind down those massive trunks (middle photo).  The photo on the right shows the area today, after the addition of Pittosporum 'Silver Magic', Ceanothus arboreus, Romneya couteri, and various smaller plants.

Until last year, I left the steep upper section of the slope entirely alone.  A few months after last July's horrendous heatwave I began slowly chipping away at the dead sections of ivy and honeysuckle incinerated in that event.  The uppermost area remained green and, since I couldn't reach further than three to four feet above the concrete stairway anyway, I didn't take my effort any further.  I'd only exposed about 30 square feet before the ivy and honeysuckle responded to our substantial winter rain by stretching their vines in an effort to cover the area I'd cleared but the experience was enough to have me pondering what more I could do with the area if I eliminated all or part of those vines for good.  This week, I walked my neighborhood, looking for inspiration in what neighbors with front yard slopes have done.

Some approaches were anything but inspiring.

Artificial turf can be used effectively in some settings but this isn't one of them

In contrast, the entrance to our neighborhood, largely created using succulent cuttings donated by residents over the course of years, is looking better and better.

Calandrinia and Echium covers the flat area along the main road outside our neighborhood but ice plant, a scattering of Pelargoniums, and Centranthus add spring color to the east-facing slope while blooming Aloes provide winter color

The natural area along the street leading from the entrance also offers some ideas, at least if you ignore the mass of weeds.

I can't identify all the plants arrayed along this area but Yucca and Sumac (native Lemonade Berry, Rhus integrifolia) make up a part of the mix

Here's a look at the most impressive homeowner efforts.

Last year, this neighbor's garden crew pulled out a lot of the ivy and weeds from the lower section of this massive slope. adding bright spots of color with a mix of Pelargoniums, Euryops, and Cordyline.  The large Bougainvillea at the top of the slope and the Agapanthus along the street edge were already in place.

This neighbor's slope is moderate near the driveway and steeper as one moves along the road.  There's a wide range of plants here, including Phormiums, roses, and succulents.  It's principal difference from my back slope is that the area can be worked from both the upper and lower areas.  The massive hedge at the top of my back slope doesn't allow access from the upper area.

The entire front area of this neighbor's garden is terraced.  It's most prominent feature is a gigantic red-orange flowered Leucospermum, currently in full flower.  The area is wide enough to support not only a variety of paths but also fruit trees and a range of ornamental plants, including roses.  I adore this garden and in fact briefly argued that, since the property is once more for sale, maybe my husband and I should move there rather than remodel our house.  (That proposal didn't fly.)

Here's a gratuitous close-up of that beautiful Leucospermum.  It's funny but until I took these photos, my brain hadn't fully processed the fact that there's also a lot of ivy here.

This front slope also has a lot of ivy but the lower section has been cleared since the last time I walked this way so maybe some replanting is planned for the area adjacent to the street.  I admired the tall Cordyline midway between the 2 palms.

Closer to home, our next door neighbor's driveway slope is looking good right now.

That's my lath house in the background on the left.  The area above the stone wall is mine while the area above the smooth concrete wall belongs to the neighbors.  When the neighbors removed their sickly oleanders along the driveway, they planted Pittosporum 'Silver Sheen' and lots of ice plant (Delosperma).  The ice plant matches that in my own street side succulent bed (visible on the left).

And my more moderate front slope isn't looking too shabby either.

The roses (Rosa 'Mutabilis) and the Pineapple Guava tree (Feijoa sellowaina) came with the garden but I introduced everything else (other than the self-planted Cotoneaster).  The mainstays here are Aeoniums, Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', Osteospermum, and Limonium perezii.

While I continue chipping away at the ivy and honeysuckle along my back slope's concrete stairway, I'll consider my options for transforming the upper section of my back slope.  The easiest thing to do would be to let those vines reclaim the area, at least until the next summer heatwave burns them to a crisp again, but that's not a particularly satisfying solution.   Ideally, I'd like to remove at least half the vines; create a flat path through the mid-section of the slope to allow me work from above the concrete stairway as well as below; and plant the area in-between with a mix of succulents, Pelargoniums, and a shade-tolerant ornamental grass like Sesleria.  That's my dream anyway.

Happy dreams to you this weekend!


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

The Slope is a Work in Progress

The slope at the back of the property is another of the areas I initially designated as a low priority for renovation.  Actually, I didn't even discover this section of our new garden until the day our house inspection was conducted.  During our initial tours of the property I'd assumed that the property line ended at the area bordered by the wood fence at the back of what I now call the "dry garden" and the hedge running the length of the backyard.  It was quite a surprise to discover a narrow dirt path descending down a fairly steep slope beyond the hedge.  Other than a large lemon tree at the bottom of the slope, the area had little to recommend it with honeysuckle on one side of the path and weeds on the other.

During the first month we were in the house we got a significant amount of rain (by Southern California standards anyway) and the dirt path down to the bottom of the sloped area seemed particularly treacherous.  When I finally ventured in that direction, compelled by a visceral need to begin cleaning out the weeds that were sprouting everywhere after the rain, I fell repeatedly.  In the interest of making the area accessible, I began campaigning to add a stairway of some type.  As we'd just spent a chunk of change to buy the house, neither my husband nor I felt comfortable laying out a lot of money to bring in a landscape contractor or stonemason.   He-who-does-not-wish-to-be-named-in-a-blog (to be known here as the "Blog-o-phobe") took some measurements and plotted out a pathway, which he built out of pre-made concrete wall segments.  As the existing dirt pathway was hard-packed clay embedded with a zillion small stones, this was no mean feat.  The new pathway is still a bit treacherous but it's now at least navigable.

Of course, when I had a way of traversing the slope and got out most of the weeds, I had something of a blank slate and, as my friends know, I have a very hard time letting soil stand uncovered for long.  The prior owner left a large number of wooden tree rings on the property, which I used to break the area into more level planting beds.  I know this was a short-sighted move on my part as that wood will rot within a couple of years but I had the material on hand and I was pinching pennies.  At some point, the Blog-o-phobe and I are undoubtedly going to have to replace the wood borders with stone or concrete.

I added both purchased and home-produced compost to the area within the wood-bordered areas, then began planting.  I probably should have worked still more compost into the soil in this area but, again, impatience and penny-pinching interfered with good horticultural practice.  As the downward section of the sloped area is irrigated only by a hose, I sought out plants that could handle drought.  Also, as the area is in shade for a good portion of the day in the winter months, I selected plants that can tolerate this, although I've pushed that envelope a bit.

The picture below shows the slope in the early stages of planting.

My major plant purchases were Arthropodium cirratum (Renga Lily), Carpenteria californica 'Elizabeth', Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid', Liriope muscari 'Pee Dee Gold Ingot', and Ribes viburnifolium (Catalina Perfume Currant).  Perhaps foolishly, I added divisions of Centranthus ruber and Oenothera speciosa 'Siskiyou' from other parts of the property   These last two plants have spread like crazy and, although they certainly help hold the soil, I hope I don't regret their addition.  I certainly won't have an easy time getting them out now that they've established themselves.

The Renga lily is one of my favorite plants as it seems to tolerate dry shade well and looks good even when not in flower.  I haven't seen this plant in any of the local nurseries but Annie's Annuals & Perennials routinely carries it.  I have this plant in several areas of the property.  Here's a picture of one of these in bloom this past April.

In Spring, I added more plants to the slope, including Monardella villosa (Coyote Mint) and a purple groundcover Abelia (both purchased by mail order from Annie's), as well as Pelargonium 'White Lady', obtained at the South Coast Plaza's annual garden show.  More recently, I've added thyme ('Pink Chintz' again) and a variegated Sedum between the stepping stones.  I'm hoping the beds along the slope will shine in the coming Spring and I've begun to plot my next steps in rehabilitating the flatter and sunnier area surrounding the lemon tree.  I'm thinking ornamental grasses...