Sounds like you're doing great so far! We're in Nashville so I'm not too sure about the Heather or Lavender. Something that has a deeper root structure might be a good idea. Try Boxwoods, Yews, Juniper or some Holly.

We also are having two Plant Swaps in a few weeks. Cheryl has the East TN Swap in Seymour and the Mid TN Swap is south of Hohenwald. We'd love to have you come to both!

Where are you in ETN? I'm in Knoxville and my backyard is a steep slope that slopes down away from the house. Well, about 10 feet of the yard used to be level, but over the last eight years it has been sliding down the hill. We had a plumber who also does excavation look at the backyard and he is concerned because some of our plumbing (the sewer clean out) is totally exposed and we've run it over with the lawnmower so much that it broke entirely. He's concerned that other lumbing items are also exposed and that soon we will see a foundation crack! We want to avoid this so we are going to have to have many truckloads of fill brought in, OR we will have to try to get a Hi-Lift in at the base of the hill (that is where the alley is that has all our utilities - water, sewer, electric, phone, everything except gas.) The City refuses to maintain this alley! There are trees that have grown up in it on other people's right-of-way areas that now block equipment from getting through. I'm looking at an expensive fix, methinks. And a LOT of retaining walls! So I too am interested in finding out about erosion control plants.

When we moved in we laid black plastic down on the hill for two years to kill the kudzu and other nasty things. It worked - the only thing that survived the lack of water and the 200+ degree temps (it's full sun) was the native Clematis. On the advice of a friend who is a former landscape architect we sowed the hill with Lespedeza, the non-shrub variety, but found that it did not crowd out the weed and tree seeds, so the whole hill has grown up wild with invasives and honey locust (thorn city!) and the Lespedeza did not stop the erosion as promised so we are exasperated at this point. Helpful ideas appreciated! I will take pics when I can.

-Regina

As much as I detest them, railroad ties will help terrace the hill and can slow down the erosion. They are a HUGE pain in the rear to cut and lay down. I'd suggest drilling holes and putting rebar in them to get a solid joint between two of three. Making sure that water is diverted will help the erosion too.

Is it a sunny slope? The vinca's got me a little confused on that score -- everything else you list is pretty much a sun plant. If sun, I'd put in Mexican Hair Grass, too (Nassella tenuissima, used to be Stipa tenuissima). It's a clumping grass with a lovely fine texture and sort of hangs down the slope in a pleasing cascading fashion. It seems to thrive in that red clay.

Marty

Amsonia works well in full sun and partial shade. It has a light feathery quality, spreads by underground runners, and can be a pain in the derriere when planted next to someplace you don't want it, such as your daylily bed.

Not sure about Bulbous' slope, but my back slope is full sun. I have another, a side yard, that is part-sun, mostly shade, and mostly under a walnut tree. Time was when it had grass, but then I put my dog under it... I tried grass, but it doesn't stick around. I'm looking for groundcovers that are non-toxic in case my dog decides to have a snack on the foliage. I read on the Steppables website that if you put down gravel under the dirt and plants the dog simply can't compact the soil to the point where roots can't grow. So I'm going to try that, and I will plant a variety of groundcovers to see what can co-habitate with a female husky/samoyed mix.

Amsonia looks pretty! It says it gets 2-3 ft. high. I might try that on the back hill - anything is better than Lespedeza!

I planted my red-hot pokers on that back hill yesterday. I think they will like it there, and if they start to crowd out the Lespedeza or other weeds, I won't cry. Red hot pokers, while very vigorous and invasive in my tiny flowerbeds, will be fine there, I'd say.

I think Baptista is supposed to develop huge tapsroots and can be invasive so it might work on the hillside too. It reseeds itself. It looks kind of like lupine, but can take the heat and is supposed to drought tolerant. It comes in blue, yellow, and white.