Here is a shot from today. It looks very messy. The hosta just looks like a thicket of weeds from a distance.

Here is a closer view. The top terrace is about 4 feet deep from the fence, and the lower terrace is about 3 feet deep.

One more close up

Here are some ideas you might want to consider... I'm certainly the first to admit I don't know much about landscaping, or zones and plants other than in So Cal, but I'm willing to learn!

First, it might be a good idea clean up the yard and pull any weeds and neaten thing up, so you have a visual idea of a blank canvas and what to work with. It looks like you have a BIG yard!

For the terraces, you may want to start with what you have and go from there. What would you like to grow there, and do these areas get full sun or what? Annuals? Perennials? Pines or conifers? Roses? Fruit trees that you can espalier?

If the folks at Home Depot or Lowe's are in any way knowledgeable, you can ask them what works for your yard environment.

You may want to break the yard into sections and work that way, with an eye toward what might thrive and what might go where, including visual interest during all the seasons. For me, mulch always makes things look nice and neat even if there's nothing but a nice spreading of mulch in an area!

Along the fence, with the sloped clay soil, you may want to level it out a bit, and then do some kind of raised beds with amended soil, and plant rosemary--the upright variety. They stay green, grow somewhat slowly, and are hardy in my area--they may be hardy in your area too, and they won't get very tall.

Maybe for some areas designated with stacked stones, or stacked rocks or bricks, you can load up the mulch or bark, and plant a lot of bulbs for seasonal color and greenery.

It looks like a big job, and your photo showed a darling baby--you'll be a busy mom for sure!

I'm sending you encouragement!

Smiles,
Sooz

Here is a link that might be useful: plants for zone 6b I hope!

I just love mixed shrub borders. That is what I would suggest for you. Shrubs are the easiest plants, for me, and I love love love to stand back and see where the shrub needs some careful pruning (not whacking them off). Anyway, I remember the days trying to keep up yard/gardens with little ones. You want to be able to enjoy yourself. I live in zone 7b northern Mississippi and the soil is clay. It is very easy to find shrubs and small trees at Lowe's and Home Depot, the prices are good, look for things on sale too. Here are shrubs that grow well for me, you will have to check your zone. I guess your area is now in sun due to the tree(s) being cut down, but the hostas seem to be doing fine. I love abelia. I have Edward Goucher (I think) which can get big but it is not hard to prune a couple times a year. I like better the Frances Mason which has yellowish leaves. It stays smaller. The hummers and butterflies love it. Lorapetalum is very easy. It is purple with pink flowers. There is a green one with white flowers. Dwarf crape myrtles do well in full sun. I have beautyberry, nandina (I love these but they spread). various kinds of holly. I have knockout roses which are very easy to grow. What you can do is think of all the seasons and mix the shrubs up so that for every season you will have something to look at and look forward to. Like spirea and forsythia in spring (the forsythia looks blah the rest of the year though), crape myrtle, abelia all summer, holly and nandina are evergreen. It is easy to plant bulbs I just love bulbs too. Even little ones can so help plant them. Anyway, that is the direction I would go in. Blueberry bushes are also pretty. Mine don't do great as far as fruit production but I get a few berries. If you do roses don't get the hybrid teas they are too fussy go for knockouts or old garden roses you would have to look those up.

Oh let me add that you might want to keep that tree. If the birds already like it that is a good thing. I'm not sure how big it's gonna get though. Still, the way I look at it is if it needs to be cut in a couple years, it won't be too big so it could be done yourself, and you got to enjoy it for 2 yrs!

The plants you have at ground level wouldn't look bad EXCEPT for the weeds. Get rid of those and the look will change drastically for the better. I know it's easier said than done. It requires sticking with a strategy until they are licked and the groundcovers/perennials thickly established. But it can be done.

I would consider planting a row of small trees that were in the 10' -14' height range in order to extend the effective height of screening of the fence ... primarily to obscure the view of the house and play equipment in the next lot and to make your yard seem more private. The trees you choose would determine the actual character and personality of the screen. To do this, using "shrubs" that tend toward legginess is the easy way to go. A couple that come to mind are beautybush or lilac. (I would keep it all one type. There would be many other plant choice possibilities.)

I sorta agree on the idea of a line of something. A 6' fence can be ugly to some folks. Others don't care that much.

The hosta are thriving, leave them, but be prepared to do some dividing in the near future. Have a 'hosta dividing party' that would allow you to get help and give away the divisions. While that is happening, you pull weeds and try to smother what is left to reduce their ability to return. And don't be afraid to plant some annuals there. The different color each year will add to the look.

I like golden privet as a fence obscurer (is that really a word?). The color will help lighten the area and you can prune to shape or let them go on their own. They will ultimately cover the fence. I was always taught that lighter colors go high and darker colors go low. That would help the eye move along.

Once this is all 'fixed' then your maintenance would be minimal. And, of course, when you do your fixing, incorporate lots of compost. The clay is not always bad, but can be made to work for you, not against you.

Jim

This situation is interesting, one from which there is no escape. No chance to remove the problem area. It appears to be dry walls infiltrated with the pervasive roots of english ivy and other ground cover plants plus weeds, hosta, et. al. It is almost impossible to regain control of this mess and if that is accomplished with weed killers and rebuilding the walls in certain places to reach unwanted root growth the same maintenance problem begins again. It will always be a monster job confronting a young family. Frankly, I would not spend the time, money or effort. Rather, because there is the room, plan three or four mowing strips from the wall (keeping an eye on overhead wires) and then in front of that plant a solid line of arborvitae to grow and conceal the mess behind. Then concentrate on the garden we see in the foreground of the pictures.

It's hard to see how much of your weeds are tender/easily pulled vs. tenacious vines and grasses that will keep coming back. If it's mostly the former, then I'd have a weeding party (or hire some local kids?) a few times this fall, after a rain (or during a gentle sprinkle) so it's easier to pull. Or wait til spring and weed as they come up. Once you get a handle on it one time, it will get progressively easier and progressively more low-maintenance, and the hosta will shade out more and more weeds. I also like the idea of a row of shrubs or small trees.

If it's all vines and woody weeds, then I like nandina's idea to just block it with shrubs.

I know it drives you mad, but it really doesn't look too bad, especially from a distance. If other areas of the yard are nicely maintained you won't notice the weeds so much.

Thanks so much for all of your replies.

sooz- I agree with your idea of putting a lot of mulch up there. I also like your idea of some nice bulbs. Amending the soil in the area seems like too much work for me at this point though, but I think the bulbs would do fine.

louisianagal- I really love the look of mixed shrubs too. It used to look that way before the neighbors cut down the trees and it was nice. I am a little afraid of spending all the money on plants and watching them die like the other ones. I guess I don't mind the little tree up there so much, and every year there is always a little family of chickadees in it (and sometimes a wasp nest lol). I had to top it though because the power lines are right above it. I am still thinking about cutting it down and not sure.

Yardvaark- Thanks so much for that picture! In my mind I pictured something like this and was thinking crepe myrtle because they seem to love the dry clay soil I have elsewhere in my yard. I have a really pretty crepe myrtle that I was thinking I could propagate (to save money). I know it would take a long time to get them to look like your picture, but this is my house until I am an old lady, so I am willing to wait a little. :)

Jim-1- Yes managing the weeds is a problem, and I think the hosta already need some dividing. I have never seen golden privet before so I will have to look into that. Thanks!

nandina and lalala- The roots are a lot of woody ones. It's backbreaking to weed the area. A lot of grass pops up in the mix there too. My husband and I have joked around about just putting up another fence right in front of it haha. Maybe I could get hold of a flame thrower or a couple grenades and that would weed the area sufficiently. :) You are right in that it is a problem with the weeds... 6 years trying to cope with them so far.

Feedingly, It has been mentioned that you have English ivy in the mix which begs the question, is there more of it on the other side of the fence? If there is, it's not going to be very practical trying to eliminate it as it will keep coming from the neighbors. Unlike many others, I do not despise English ivy and consider it a lawn alternative for large shade areas. I once had a half-acre lot of which 50% was covered in Hedera helix. Actually, I found it to be the EASIEST ground to maintain as it required no mowing or babying. The only thing I had to do was 2-3 times per summer walk through it and spot spray any stray weeds that popped up. And sever (with hand pruners or a knife) any ivy that was climbing trees, of which there were a dozen or so. On some of the larger trees I let it climb up about 4' height and cut it there... I liked that look and didn't have to bend over to do the work! Where the ivy met my grass, I alternately sprayed a swath of Round-up (looks ugly while the ivy tips die, but residually acts as a growth retardant and slows the next growth wave down.) and then edged the ivy with stabs of a pointed spade. (I only did this about 2 to 3 times per summer.) Some people just let the ivy come into the grass. It only grows about 3' to 4' in before it dissipates, being unable to stand the short mowing. It is not much visible like that. Since my adjoining neighbors also had ivy at the back of their yards, there was nothing for me to maintain at the lot line. I had no ivy next to my house so none to ward off there. All totalled, I don't think I spent more than 3 hours (or barely more) per summer maintaining 1/4 acre of ivy. In your case, it would good not to allow ivy on the fence, but spraying a swath of Round-up a couple of times per season would take care of that.

Ultimately, I'm suggesting that a row of flowering trees, with a green waterfall of ivy below would be a relatively easy thing to take care of, if one is not opposed to using Round-up and some pre-emergent herbicide granules. Establishing the space as a shade area would help. I would add that it might be some work to get it to the point of being weed-free, but once there, it would be extremely easy to maintain. If I was going to do this, I would relocate all the plants to be saved (such as Hosta) to another area, temporarily or permanently. Then I would work on weeds and simultaneously plant small trees like crape myrtle. If you don't cure the weeds before trying to develop smaller plantings, it will be futile. I don't think there's amount of weed pulling that will cure the weeds you have. As weeds are killed, it would be important to mulch bare areas to minimize any weed regrowth.

Having been around the forum for a while now, I am certain that mentioning Hedera helix in a positive light will bring out all manner of negative comments against it. Many, it seems, would rather face a rabid pit bull than a sprig of ivy. To each his own, but it seemed to me that ignorance about how to properly manage ivy is pervasive. Previously, some argued against it based on another related species -- Hedera canariensis -- to which anyone would know is not the same plant, nor does it have the same characteristics. In spite of my love and adoration for Hedera helix, I know that if one is not knowledgeable or willing to learn proper management techniques, it can seem like an overpowering bull. So I'm not recommending that you go out and get some to install in an area currently devoid of it. I'm suggesting that if it's already there, and already in the adjoining neighbor's yards, learn to manage it and use it to your advantage. In spite of what people say, it has a lot of positive attributes.