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Suggestions please for a untamed sloping site.
Igrowfromseed
Posts: 284
The site is our back garden in Anglesey North Wales. It's well protected from the local winds by the house and a surrounding fence. The area is sunken below an adjacent field and a neighbours house but doesn't have any stagnant water or boggy areas. The flat area near the house will be stone flagged and have a water feature. It's the sloping area upto the wooden fence that I would like some help with- max width approx 10-12 feet. The slope faces south so gets a good amount of sun. I'm about to tackle the brambles and ivy. Soil is acid and good draining but compacted. Not sure how stable the soil will be once the weeds are removed. Would also like to soften the view of the wooden fence.
I could incorporate some local stones into the slope to give some stability?
I would like the view through the patio doors to look nice.
Any suggestions warmly welcome.
View from the Patio doors into the back garden
Slope is 45 degrees with a small flat area adjacent to fence
Back bedroom has paito doors opening out onto garden.
View from garden to Patio doors.
I could incorporate some local stones into the slope to give some stability?
I would like the view through the patio doors to look nice.
Any suggestions warmly welcome.
View from the Patio doors into the back garden
Slope is 45 degrees with a small flat area adjacent to fence
Back bedroom has paito doors opening out onto garden.
View from garden to Patio doors.
0
Posts
I have cotoneaster horizontalis on part of mine and it works well for me and I think would look good against your fence. It is not evergreen, but I find its complex twiggy geometry pleasing in winter, it leafs up early and is great for wildlife. The bees love the flowers, blackbirds and thrushes love the berries and small birds like wrens and dunnocks love fossicking about under its protection. A hedghog even hibernated under mine once! The leaves go a dark maroon before falling and it makes a good support for clematis etc for extra colour. The roots go every which way and really help with stabilising the bank and few weeds get a look in.
I grow other plants that can be a nuisance elsewhere because they like to run and root. Hypericum calycinum, yellow loosestrife, periwinkle, lamiums and also other shrubs such as Potentilla fruticosa, and a Max Graf ground cover rose.
Vigorous self seeders can work too, I have Alchemilla mollis, and as mine is a rural, fairly wild garden, red campion and even rosebay willowherb on the wilder end. Centranthus would be good and grasses such as Stipa tenuissima.
At the other end the bank was cut back and a proper retaining wall built and I have made a rockery. I am lucky enough to have a supplly of rock on site, but it isn't essential. Spreading alpines like Helianthemums, arabis, small persicarias, acaena, Lithodora, campanulas and there are loads of others, are all good for covering the soil and chosen carefully can give year round colour. Adding one or two really dwarf conifers will add a little height and interest and you can tuck in some little bulbs for early spring. I love it, but it does need more attention and maintenance than the other part of the bank.
There are large blocks of stones in it to retain the soil at various levels.