New front hillside update, part 2

I only managed to cover the bottom edge of the new front slope in part 1. Then I got busy adding plants to the rest of the area - so I need to post this quickly before I add more!

Continuing uphill is the main slope, here's the view up toward the front lawn:

In the middle of the slope, I planted a dogwood that will eventually be the centerpoint of the slope:

• Dogwood, cornus 'Venus'
• Kalmia 'Minuet'
• Enkianthus campanulatus 'Red Bells'
• Lonicera crassifolia, groundcover honeysuckle
• Alchemilla mollis

Above the dogwood where there is hot afternoon sun, more drought tolerant plants:

• Weigela florida 'Morcolzam'
• Pennisetum 'Karley Rose'
• Agastache 'Blue Boa' and one 'Black Adder transplanted from the rose garden where it was buried by catmint
• Marrubium supinum, aka horehound - I've never seen this grown here, but was tempted by a plant catalog, it should be drought tolerant
• Geranium harveyi
• Ceanothus 'Diamond Heights' - a low groundcover variety
• Phlox 'Spring Purple'

The dogwood will eventually provide shade but the uphill side will be full sun for a long time.

Continuing up the slope to the edge of the front lawn, this area is full sun most of the day. I'm thinking of it as an extension of the rose garden, a semi-circle around the front lawn:

• Cornus baileyi, red twig dogwood
• Hamamelis x 'Birgit'
• Hacquetia epipactis, early spring blooms under the hamamelis
• Daylillies, hemorocallis "Evil Gnome Murphy' and Watership Down'
• Gladiolus, remainder of the bag of bulbs
• Bearded irises, moved from other locations around the yard
• Peony 'Red Grace'
• Crocus Sativus, fall blooming saffron crocus - haven't come up yet so may not survive

I have plans to plant two more peonies here, and one or two roses moved from the slope along the fence. The red twig dogwoods may need to move, they were the first plants I put in here and my vision is already shifting - but I know where I can move them to. 

This is the view looking down down the slope from the front lawn:

The other side of the path (the right side in the pictures above) is shadier, it's partly under the lilacs and maple tree, and the sun is blocked by the house in the morning. Down at the bottom under the lilacs has the most shade, which I hope is enough for these plants to thrive:

• Hosta 'Golden Tiara'
• Hydrangea 'Nikko Blue'
• Podophylum pleianthum
• Lysmachia congestifolium 'Persian Chocolate' - experimental groundcover
• Dicentra formosa, bleeding heart
• Adiantum pedatum, native maidenhair fern - transplanted from my woodland border which had too much sun still
• Blue 'Belarina' primroses
• Brunnera macrophylla
• Primula 'Tortoise Shell'
• Heuchera 'Lime Marmalade'
• Sword ferns - these are large ferns that my brother rescued from an excavation he was working on, I planted them right under the lilacs and have some new growth
• Hakonechloa macra 'Aureloa' - mixed in with the sword ferns

I added a bench here so I can enjoy the view up the slope. We get some nice sunset views here too, which I never really noticed because I didn't like to look at the railroad ties.

Around the existing maple tree are plants that I hope can handle a little more sun. It seems like under a maple tree should be full shade, and it is in the morning but then afternoon sun comes right down the slope. I planted the azalea at the top of the slope, which will eventually add more shade in the summer.

• Astrantia major 'Star of Beauty' (purple) and 'Star of Royals' (pink)
• Athyrium 'Ghost'
• Fatsia japonica 'Spider Web'
• Podophylum pleianthum
• Oxals oregana, the evergreen version
• Cyclamen coum, transplanted from below the old retaining wall
• Cyclamen hederifolium
• Maianthemum dilatatum, false lily of the valley
• Maianthemum stellatum, star flowered false solomon's seal
• Carex oshimensis 'Evergold' - along the side path
• Impatiens omeiana - hardy impatiens, hopefully will not take over too much
• Foxglove, digitalis purpurea 'Foxy' - along the main path
• Hellebore 'Cinnamon Snow'
• Ceratostigma plumbaginoides - dwarf plumbago
• Heucherella 'Buttered Rum'
• Heuchera 'Fire Alarm'
• Heuchera 'Carnival Watermelon'
• Colchicum 'Giant'
• Rhododendron 'Mandarin Lights' - an early blooming azalea

The bright colored heucheras are really catching my eye this fall, hopefully they will look good through most of the year.

That's all for now, but you may have spotted a few more plants sitting on the bench! There are a lot of good fall plant if you're not worried about what the plants look like going into winter - they'll grow good roots and thrive in the spring.

New front hillside update

Echinacea, pennisetum and volunteer fireweed

Remember my new front hillside, created by removing a railroad tie retaining wall? I've been spending a lot of time here, planting, watering, weeding and thinking.

This is the view from the bottom, comparison from early March to late August:

A lot of the plants visible in the newest photo are rescued from before the excavation and probably temporary, but they're good at filling in space for now:

• Geranium, probably Rozanne - a bunch of small pieces are multiplying quickly
• English daisy - I thought only one piece survived but now there are two and they will spread fast too
• Hollyhocks - planted from seed last year, some were just below the excavation and I transplanted some along the wall
• Fireweed - a lovely native volunteer
• Gladiolus - I planted a bag of bulbs along the wall

Looking back from the house, here's a clearer view of this sunny section along the neighbor's wall:




I have added a lot of sun loving perennials, many bought on super sale from the big box hardware stores:

• Echinacea purpurea 'PowWow White'
• Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'
• Acaena inermis 'Purpurea' - a lovely purple groundcover
• Coreposis 'Mercury Rising' - rescued from the big box dead plant section
• Amsonia hubrichtii - same
• Spiraea, have to look up which one, maybe 'Goldflame' - same
• Hemerocalis 'Pink Flirt' - same
• Hemerocalis 'Wine Delight' - same
• Ajuga reptans 'Burgendy Glow' - a less aggressive bugleweed
• Fuchsia 'Delta's Sara' - as close to a blue fuchsia as I can find, crossing my fingers that it can handle this much afternoon sun
• Asters - a few small varieties that I seem to have lost the tags for are planted in front

There is a definite purple and gold theme to the perennials, and also to the larger bushes that I've planted in the back:

• Smoke bush, cotinus 'Grace'
• Variegated red twig dogwood, I think it is cornus alba 'Gouschaltii'
• Ninebark, physocarpus 'Morning Star'
• Native flowering currant, grown from a cutting

The bushes will eventually shade out some of the perennials, but this area has a lot of room for both - and this is only the bottom section of the new front slope! The rest will have to wait for part 2 of this post.

Here's a couple more views of this section, I like how it merges into my north shade border down the hill:

New front hillside

Forget-me-not

One big job for the year done! Or rather, the contractors are done and now I have a lot of work ahead - but it's the fun work of planning and planting. We had them pull out the old rotting railroad ties in our front yard and across the back slope. In the back slope, they were replaced by a rock wall, more about that later. The front was re-graded to a more natural shape.

Here was the slope in the front yard one week ago:

Looking southwest

Back the other way, north-northeast

East from the street

A couple of hours with a large excavator later and I really love the shape of the slope. 

Looking southwest

Looking north-northeast

The front lawn took a lot of damage, and while I'm not fond of having any lawn, I'm not ready to tackle more landscaping. So that will go back to being lawn, but I'm planting a mix that contains clover and should stay green more in the summer. 

West from the street

The dirt here has a lot of clay and was already very slippery, so I spent part of the weekend moving the rest of my pile of wood chips. That'll keep the weeds down and I can safely walk on the slope to decide where the path(s) go. 

Looking southwest

Looking north-northeast

Now I'm trying to be smart and plan where trees and bushes will go first, but a few plants that were dug up to keep out of the way needed to be planted. Plus the occasionally nursery purchase from the last couple of months have to go somewhere!

Forget-me-nots and other groundcover under the maple

Forget-me-nots along the bottom of the slope

Forget-me-nots, grown from seed last year so I'm glad I was able to salvage them

Grape hyacinth also returned to near where it was originally planted