Landscaping on a slope

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jan4jesus Greeneville, TN Mar 26, 2009

Hi,
We have 3 hillsides (slopes) next to a new office building that we need to landscape. Grass just won't work. I think I've decided what plants for two: pachasandra for the shady area and vinca minor for the one that is part sun/shade. Still trying to decide for the one in full sun all day. Any suggestions?
My real question is this: what is the best way to actually plant on a slope? Should we put down landscape fabric of some kind and plant the plants through it? Someone suggested putting down the landscape fabric, then soil amendment of some kind and then mulch, inserting the plant through the additional soil and mulch but over the fabric.
Has anyone had any experience along these lines to have some helpful suggestions?
Thanks a bunch,
Jan

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Mar 26, 2009

If you do the landscape fabric, it needs to be on top...then you dig holes through it to plant your plants, then put mulch on top. The way it works is it prevents weed seeds that germinate on the surface from getting their roots down into the soil where they can get established, and if you don't cut holes through it for your plants then it'll have the same effect on them.

For the full sun slope, have you considered sedum or some sort of ice plant?

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Smokey_SC Piedmont, SC(Zone 7b) Mar 26, 2009

Sedum Autumn Joy gets about 14'-16' tall and blooms in the fall. While growing it starts out as a mound of leaves, very pretty. Sedums take very little water. Sedum Baby Tears will grow in the mulch and will spread. With the Autumn Joy you can just break off a stem, place it in some potting soil, water it and a few weeks later you will have a new plant. When you plant all your plants, plant them in compost. I like Mushroom Compost from Lowe's or Walmart. For the vinca I would add Peat moss to your compost. It will help to hold water in the soil. The vinca will need it more than the other plants though you can add it to the other plants as well. I use 4 parts compost to 1 part peat moss. I just bought peat moss at Lowe's made by Miracle Grow. It has fertilizer already in it.

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jan4jesus Greeneville, TN Mar 29, 2009

thanks for the ideas! I do like sedum, but, it's at an office building and we were trying to find something evergreen. I didn't think planting on top of the landscape fabric made much sense.
still trying to decide what groundcover will take full sun all day and stay evergreen during the winter. We do have irrigation to that area.
Jan

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Mar 29, 2009

There are evergreen sedums--check Sedum spurium for sure but I'm sure there are others as well.

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