Hey I am apparantly from the same area as you---getting older too---steep roadside bank too---clay rocks and fullsun. I planted creeping phlox, daffodils, grape hyacinths, and daylillies. Purple coneflowers reseeded onto the bank and I have also started transplanting Iris. They all do great. What I did was spray a total vegetation killer in a blocked out area at a time (an area I knew I would be able to get planted that season) It has taken me 3 seasons, but I am on my last small area. The last 20 feet!!! I had a 220' stretch of bank to do. The plants all do well on their own, the creeping phlox keeps the weeds down, while allowing the iris, daylilies and coneflowers to come up through. Please don't put that awful crownvetch in---it is one of the worst things to kill off, as bad as creeping charlie. Ann

Hi Azura, Hardy sweet peas (Lathyrus latifolius) can take the sun. Do you know they have little to none of the wonderful fragrance of the annual sweet peas? IÂm planning to plant some along my "privacy" lattice panels (in sun) for one of my perennial vines so I donÂt have to start all over each year with annuals. Foxglove isnÂt going to like the sun at all out hereÂotherwise it would be perfect. I planted some in mostly shade a few weeks ago that I started from seed this spring, and theyÂre not very happy with the heat either. If you manage to get some of your other plants big enough to cast some shade, you might try planting them right next to the bigger plants. When I posted yesterday, I looked over a couple of the toxic plant lists, and had never realized before that most of the toxic plants are shade plants. Aconitum, monkshood is another very toxic plant that would be great for your purposes, but itÂs for shade too. If I come up with any toxic sun plants that might work for you, IÂll come back and post. Too bad the foxglove wonÂt work! CanÂt you just see all the little buggers laying around having heart attacks! ;-) I almost forgot! I have Campanula glomerata too, and mine isnÂt spreading at all. I love the stuff. There have been different threads on the campanulas in the past, and IÂve always found an amazing discrepancy between which ones will spread for some people, yet be very well mannered for others. The Campanula punctatas are invasive for everybodyÂbut I canÂt seriously recommend you put that in! I think youÂll come back to haunt me some day if I do! Skybird

Tee hee. Nearly everything I plant self seeds and spreads itself like mad! You don't say if you want annual or perennial plants. In my experience perennials are much less likely to self seed than annuals. Here are one or two that I have that are relatively well-behaved. 1. Madagascar periwinkle - Catharanthus roseus. Comes in a variety of colors apart from roseus. 2. Zinnia - Zinnia elegans ( not Z.haageanus as this self seeds). Wide range of colors. This is an annual. 3. Venus slipper - Calceolaria hybrids. 4. Antirrhinum - Antirrhinum majus and hybrids. Will self seed but easily controlable. Biennial. 5.Four o'clock flower - Mirabilis jalapa. This goes under a variety of names, but as the one I have given suggests it doesn't open till late , so needs a W facing position. Perennial. 6. Salvia ( Sage) - many different species, incl. the culinary one, though this is not so showy. 7. Lavender - Lavandula - many diff. species,flowers not so showy, but good for toning down the more violent colors and of course the scent. 8. Dahlia. It's a good idea to lift the tubers occasionally and enrich the soil. 9. Bulbine fruticosa. S African bulb. Forms neat clumps, not invasive. Orange and lemon. Coneflower (Echinacea purpurata) and Rudbeckia, both USA natives. Taller plants good for the back of the border. Hope you have fun growing some of these.

I'd suggest La. Iris along with some of the others. Just about any hardy hibiscus would likely do well too. One not mentioned that I'd highly recommend is hedychium ("butterfly ginger.")If the area stays moist, hedychium would do well and they put out gorgeous white blooms from late summer till frost that smell just like gardenias.