barren back yard

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monkey665 Avon, MA(Zone 6a) Jan 30, 2008

I need some help. The end part of my yard faces south and has some woods. The area is 78 feet wide and 40 feet long. It was under trees at one point. I had 10 trees cut down this time last year. damaged lightning and ants. I have been fighting weeds and am hopefully at the end of it. The area slopes down to the woods. I want to turn this into a large flower garden but am worrying about the area and errosion if I only do flowers with a few bushes. Do I need a ground covering also? Is there a ground covering that can be put down but will let flowers grow through? I did consider grass but the area is not flat and is rocky.

Help!

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jan 31, 2008

How steep is the area? If it's not too terribly steep, you can probably just put down mulch around the plants and be fine. Even if it is steep mulch may do a decent job--I've got a pretty steep hill in my yard and all I did was mulch it and it's fine so far.

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terichris Nashville, TN(Zone 7a) Feb 02, 2008

Can you do some large rocks and ornamental grass clumps mixed with the wildflowers?

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pastime Waterman, IL(Zone 5a) Feb 02, 2008

Have you thought about creating a hill prairie? A natural (Green) area using native prairie plants. Some of their roots go down 15 feet and are great for stopping erosion. Grasses like Little Bluestem, Prairie dropseed, Side Oats Grama and several others grow nicely on rocky, gravel hills. Wild flowers such as Cliff Onion, Aromatic Aster, False Boneset, Purple Prairie Clover, Fringed Puccoon, Field Goldenrod, and Pasque Flower will grow on hills. There's lots of information on the web and there are many nurseries that sell prairie plants and plugs. Just a thought.

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monkey665 Avon, MA(Zone 6a) Feb 20, 2008

Thanks everyone. It seems like flowers, ornamental grasses are the way to go. I will give it a try.

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