My very first post!!
I'm about to buy a charming 1950s house on a wooded and steeply sloped lot. The views from the front of the house are so good that I'm going ahead with the purchase, despite the bizarre cement retaining wall directly behind the house (see photo). The previous owners painted the wall with a mural that's cute but not to my taste. They also put up wooden fences between the house and wall to enclose a hot tub-- I'll get rid of the fences and the tub, which is too big for the space. I'll try to post more photos so you can get a sense of the layout.
I want to resurface the wall, not sure how. Paint? Stone? Eventually I'd like to incorporate plants, perhaps a trellis for climbing plants or planters that would hang down from the top of the wall. I could also do cascading plants along the top of the wall. Most of the wall is in the shadow of the house all day long.
The house is in Appleton Wisconsin, zone 5a I think, but sheltered from the north and west by the steep hill, so maybe zone 4 plants could work. Any suggestions are welcome!
-Sean
