Juliann, I'll post a site from the UK that has pictures of various types of gardens. This link goes to their Cottage Garden which they say is "contrived to look uncontrived". There are many other types of gardens there that might provide inspiration. Which plants you choose depends on which climate zone you are in. I'm in zone 3 so am somewhat limited in what I can grow. I'll post a pic of what I call my wild bird garden. It's an area in my large garden that has the birdfeeder and birdbath. I allow the flowers to go to seed for the birds so they self-seed. This area has changed over many years altho I initially seeded shasta daisies (the butterflies love them) and yarrow and planted a few established perennials. The yarrow seeds I planted were a mix of red, pink, and white, but the white resembles the wild yarrow we have so we pull it out and it's mostly now only tones of pinks and red. There are also Lamb's Ears because they seed all over my garden but I leave them in this wild area (the bees love them). There are a few other plants, a pink mallow that's 'weedy' but it fills the space and is quite pretty and we also have several lilacs here. Near that area there is also a drift of common old irises which we've allowed to spread. They are in the lower part of the rockery and I will eventually weed some of them out as the bloom time is not very long. If I were deliberately planting a wildflower garden I would not buy a wildflower mix as there could be invasive plants in it. I planted a mix about 14 years ago and still have Dame Hesperis (Dame's Rocket) altho pull out many every year and try to dead-head them ASAP before they seed. It's quite a weed in warmer climates. I would choose seeds of plants I like that are hardy but not invasive and mix them together. Another option is to plant in swaths with various plants and grasses hardy to your area. Keep in mind the moisture requirements of the plants as you decide. The area where I have shastas, mallow, and yarrow needs little watering and only a spring weeding so is easy care. Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden House

> huge bare spots that are ugly and I want to try to unify it and make it look attractive. I wonder why the pine needles aren't forming a (thin) cover. > I think the orange flowers are gazanias?? the clumping type. They'll (continue) dying out. > There is also some rosemary mixed in there. do they appear to be spreading (wriggly branches rooting)? what are the pale scattered things that look about 2-3"? If sandstone, then you could spread a thin layer of more sandstone to help the rosemary spread. _________ For covering purposes, I would mix the species. I don't know socal, but some of these might at least spur better suggestions... Asparagus 'Sprengeri' is pretty good for long seasons and bright shade. Has short sharp prickly hooks on stems. http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Asparagaceae/Asparagus_densiflorus.html Mahonias would probably settle at the top of the wall. I don't think the drier Mahonias will fill, but could be part of a mix. Dry coastal Salvias or hybrids (S mellifera, etc). They will probably try "running from" shade. Myoporum parvifolium. plain green cover (low shub) Coprosma x kirkii is another plain green cover, but I'm now looking in Sunset.. where they say it's not so dry growing as what i've seen. Maybe the one (or two?) i saw dry were just lucky. They had no competition and were well mulched, so... Erigeron karvinskianus, sort of weedy looking, but dense. they seem to live a long time for a herbaceous-looking plant. Geranium macrorrhizum. whiter foliage, else similar form. i've never grown it. Tough reputation. (but read the sunset description!) Malvastrum, but it will smother anything (such as slow children) in adjoining moist areas. (top of retaining wall is good barrier) Also I don't know how well it hangs on steeper slopes. It likes water but will survive with little water once it's large (which is soon, if watered). Will lose a lot of leaves if dry, showing a lot of stems (it seems to try to smother itself :-) ) Oenothera berlandieri. nice flowers. is a strong spreader (underground), but tends to die out completely. will not stay on a slope. goes to flat ground and swales. will likely go thru that "railroad tie" part of the retaining wall, so don't plant it near there. "Dusty Miller" Senecio(s) or Centaurea gymnocarpa. Won't live very long (on flat ground, but on a slope??), but will grow fast. Senecio wants full sun. Centaurea might grow well under high overhanging pine branches. (still wants sun) spreads/runs irregularly, good in the mix. Lavandula x 'Goodwin Creek' is pretty tough for mostly full sun (mixes ok with similar sized neighbors). Teucrium fruticans. "subtly" charming (bright overall color). won't cover anything densely (is a weak shrub) Mixes well with other shrubs. try Eremophila. Where you can see the flowers. Ballota is tough, though small. I'd pop a few in along top of wall. Socal warm season might be longer than it likes, though. Euryops, though often sheared (!gak!), are very good naturalistic shrubs. Essentially full sun. Acacia redolens. Caltrans tough. Not so great looking close up, imo. More like a thick haze than dense cover. Don't know how well it mixes. There are some larger tough plants. Plumbago. Cissus (vines). Eleaegnus. Tecomaria (you might want to keep the center pushed down.) Large fast Ceanothus (griseus) covers, will do ok in bright woodsy edge. Good in the mix. Research Junipers. Still very tough. I see this sometimes http://images.google.com/images?q=Kabatina+blight Not sure about that in Socal. http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i199/kates_mommy/BackyardHillside-1-1.jpg What's that thin multi branched treelet? http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i199/kates_mommy/BackyardHillside-3.jpg And try some "nice stuff" at the top of wall in this area...

Rather than using a solid cloth, look for jute netting. This is made specifically for erosion control purposes but is designed to plant through. It is affixed with staples just like the burlap cloth. There are various dealers of this product in the Seattle area. I am a bit concerned about the ivy roots remaining. When did you remove the ivy? Typically, English ivy will regrow from the roots rather easily and rather rapidly. It may make a great deal of sense to just let the ivy grow back. While it is not the best choice for slope stabilization, it apparently has been doing the job satisfactorily in your situation and I encounter it used for the same purpose in many other, highly sloped situations as well. I would be concerned that attempting to remove the root system - which you no doubt have determined is tenacious and widespread - will destabilize the slope even further. And you want to get this slope secured before we hit the rainy season. I do realize it is considered an invasive species and I would never suggest planting it but sometimes removing it causes more problems than it solves. If you do opt for the kinnikinnick, start with small (4") pots and plant directly into the native soil. This plant is native to this area and should adapt to our soil and climate conditions just fine. It will need some watering to get established and any low emission water source (drip or soaker) should work but be very cautious about over-watering and further weakening the slope. Luckily the kinnikinnick is not a very thirsty plant and won't need much water to get established. Don't bother mulching - it probably won't stay put and delays the spread of the GC's. In either case - leaving the ivy to regrow or planting with a new GC - use the netting to provide some degree of security until the plants fill in. May I be nosy and ask where in Seattle you are located? I've done a bit of erosion control work on various properties close to the Sound and even a landslide remediation project just south of Richmond Beach.

"I really like the idea of trying to raise the canopy. That's something I can do " With a simple hand pole pruner, you can saw off all the low limbs and gather them up in fairly short order. If you must bundle them up for pick-up, begin at the tip end cutting them into the requisite lengths with loppers. Buy quality tools, especially loppers as they will need to hold up to a lot of abuse for this job. "I'm def not a fan of English Ivy though. It's all over the backyard and super invasive. I know it can look decent if managed, but for one reason or another people always seem to let it go." Isn't it completely the people's choice to let it go or not? Let's put this in perspective. English ivy is capable of covering huge amounts of heavily shaded ground with a uniform, beautiful texture, where no grass will grow. It's a workhorse in that department. Imagine if it was grass instead, it would need to be mowed and edged every week all throughout the growing season. That's a fair amount of man-hours. But what do people do with ivy .... absolutely nothing, usually for years! At the end of that they say it's invasive and unmanageable! Ivy never needs height mowing so that's a huge time saver. Where it meets civilized conditions, it needs edging about once a month or at most every 2 weeks if one is very picky. It needs "edging" at trees, but as I already explained, that's a quick, easy job, required only once per year. It's fine to make a personal decision not to have ivy, but then one must accept one of the alternatives ... other plants that collectively require much more labor to maintain, or a dry, barren look of mulch alone. If you bought a back yard that already has ivy, why not explore how to make it useful for you instead of thinking that it's the enemy and must be held in contempt or eradicated? It's already there so not a question of importing an "invasive" species. When I lived in Atlanta, English ivy (it was already there for me, too) was the plant that made having a nice yard in wooded conditions possible.