i would put in a 6 foot wide mulch bed .. and tell the kids that they are NEVER TO WALK IN MY GARDEN BED ... besides.. use the back door/garage door/lower level door ..... quit tracking dirt in my new front door .... crikey.. how may times do i have to tell you that.. lol ... once you achieve that ... you can plant anything you want ... i would not want to put a boxwood.. actually anything.. that would require shearing once or three times a year.. blimey.. you cant work on one side .. there is a hole there ... as to a fast fix... two or three split rail fence posts ... and rails... 3 holes.. bammo.. done ... and when they rot off in 5 years or so ... get rid of them.. because by then.. the kids will be well trained... and your drunken friends will know how to get to the front door ... this is the entrance to your new castle ... dont go all cheapo and plant just anything to solve the problem ... [not that the split rail is a thing of beauty ... but it can be done in hours.. rather than waiting 3 years for shrubbery to accomplish the task ...] take the time to EVOLVE a landscape plan .. and plant accordingly ... but dont pick some fast growing POCarp ... simply to be done with it ... thx for the pic... it is nothing like i interpreted your words .... whats the green stuff.. grass seed mat or something ... i think you need to define a 5 year landscape plan ... to fully understand your options as to the question asked .. i hit preview already.. so i cant see your pic anymore .... is the wall concrete or block retaining wall ... consider if a plant will become a problem if block wall ... most wont.. but its an issue ... ken

bgav, you used the term "sinkhole" but the general discussion does not indicate that a sinkhole is likely. It's probably a hole caused by surface erosion in which case solving erosion problems would take care of it. While slopes can present erosion problems, these are not unsolvable. Usually, all that's needed are groundcover-like plants whose roots form a network that holds soil in place and whose tops protect the soil surface from slamming rain and flowing water. Sometimes it can be difficult to establish such plants (if rain washes them out before they are established,) but it's not impossible if one dedicates one's self to the process. I would consider retaining walls necessary only if the grade is so steep that it cannot possibly stay in place as a slope. Do you have slopes so steep that no planting can possibly hold them? Look around the neighborhood and see if like slopes exist and if they are stabilized by plants. It such slopes exist elsewhere, they can exist on your property as well. You would only need to find plants capable of stabilizing them and working with your overall landscape goals. While the last picture you added is still too close-up, the slopes seen in it do not seem overly difficult. It's likely that if you have plenty of places where retaining walls COULD go, but limiting them to places where they are actually NEEDED might be a better strategy. We would not be able to suggest where such places might be without seeing some overall, wide shots of the areas. If you seek advice about where retaining walls could go from contractors who sell them, it is likely you will be advised to add a lot more walls than you need. Consider hiring a landscape architect or a qualified designer to advise on where walls would make the most sense.

If I'm seeing it correctly, it looks like the damage runs from about the stanchion to the right of the hose on the chain, to the stanchion two over to the left, the one about even with the house corner. Starting from the concrete stairs to the left, and the planter to the right, it's fine. What's causing the runoff in that middle section? That's the cause of the problem. Is there a flow of water when it rains coming past the hot tub and then down the wall? Does the roof there have gutters? Or does a downspout somewhere up to the right (in the direction of the ladder) empty on the concrete and then run down to the wall? One approach to consider is to divert water flow so that it doesn't run down the wall. Absent being able to do that, I'd have someone cut a slit in the concrete walkway and dig in and install a channel drain parallel to and maybe one or two feet inbound from the wall's edge. I'd empty it using some kind of a spout connection protruding from the wall. It looks like there's a break in the planters just under the stanchion at the left side of the damage, that might be a good place to put it (so that it doesn't flow into the planter area and flood it) .

Thank you Yardvaark! It never occurred to me to check and see what the neighbors had in their yards! We have neighbors to the north and south, with the east side of the property bordered by a public hiking trail. There is a cement wall and fence separating us from the trail, but only chain link between us and the neighbors. The southerly neighbor's lawn is mostly grass, but the northern one is VERY overgrown with all sorts of climbing plants, vines, and who knows what else. Anyway, I did a little recon this morning to see what we currently have growing in our yard. I'm not sure any of this qualifies as groundcover, though. In addition to the following, we have ALL sorts of ivies and creeping vines growing over various areas. The slopes are mostly grass and weeds right now, which is problematic because the grass grows enough to need mowing, but you can't mow up there, so DH has been having to basically hold a weedwhacker over his head to trim the area. This plant occupies a large chunk of the backyard currently, although it's actually in an area I would like to use for herbs, so it may get ripped out. No idea what this plant is, but it is reasonably attractive and seems not to need much in the way of maintenance. Another view of it (lower left corner): We also have several large patches of this this paler green plant growing throughout the backyard - it's definitely mint of some sort, but not sure what kind. Probably not something to use as groundcover since I know mint can be invasive. The flat lawn areas tend to have a lot of this next plant (weed?) poking up, especially in areas that don't get a lot of sun: And finally, there's this guy, which occupies a chunk of the backyard as well: I'm not at all opposed to spending a little money on something new that will really suit the area, but there is quite a lot of slope to cover (I would estimate 1000sf). Never having to worry about trimming those slopes again would be worth a pretty penny, though! Any thoughts about these current residents?