I have purchased Clematis from Brushwood Nursery in Ga and they have the best directions I have seen regarding planting. I am not affliated with this company. I top dress my plants with Black Kow Compost in the spring. Make sure the plant is a little below the ground as it has growing buds at the base. If you have a very cold winter, the bud eyes below the ground will re sprout if all the top growth dies back. HTH From Brushwood Nursery: Planting- Since Clematis live up to 50 years or more, you should take the time to plant each one carefully. Water the pot well before planting. This is an important step for any planting. Once you have selected a location, dig a hole at least twice as big as the pot and twice as deep. In areas with poor drainage, consider a larger hole or mounding up from the ground a bit. Mix some of the soil from the hole with a good topsoil and compost if you wish. The exact proportions will vary by your soil conditions. Backfill some of the hole with this mix. Remove the clematis from its pot by first pushing up on the bottom of the pot and then sliding it out sideways into your other hand. Never pull on the vine or its training stake to remove it. If it doesn't slide out easily, you may roll it gently one half turn on the ground while pushing down (be gentle) to loosen the sides. Clematis roots naturally run deep, so you will notice that most of the roots are in the lower half of the pot. You may gently tease some of the roots away from the sides but be gentle. Place the clematis on the backfill and look at the soil line of the plant and the ground. The clematis should be about two inches lower than the ground. This keeps the roots cooler and provides buds below ground if the vine should suffer a disease or infestation and you need to cut it back. Every clematis we sell has buds below the soil line, but we'd like you to plant deeply for extra protection. Fill the rest of the hole and over the top of the pot's soil line with the mix you made earlier. Don't cart the extra away until after you water the plant thoroughly. Sometimes the settling soil can leave the vine exposed. After all filling and watering are done, you should mulch your clematis carefully. This can be done with composted pine bark or other mulches, but you can also use stones. This is important because clematis need ample moisture to grow their best and mulch can help the soil retain moisture. Also, be sure to go back and water new plantings regularly during the first growing season. This will help them get off to a great start!

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.

Danny Maple is notorious for sending up suckers, new shoots. It may need some 'intervention'. There are many suggestions how to do it: Epsom salt or rock salt (not table salt) - you need to drill holes into the wood, fill them with the salt. It has been recommended to seal top of holes with candle wax so it doesn't 'escape'. Then cover the top with something non-porous - plastic, garbage bags have been suggested, but that may be unsightly. I would do it this way: - put a square or round paving stone on top to cover all the holes - pick up a round or square shallow container - sit the container on top of the paver - fill the container with mixture of grit - about 50%, and you could use c&s soil and some perlite if you have too - and plant sedums in it. They should grow well. (You don't plant directly over the stump - the salts are no good for the plants; if stump is exposed to lots of light and water, it will 'live' much longer.) It will take apparently upwards of 6weeks to few mo for stump to die, eventually will start falling apart, you can help it by chopping dead chunks off. Or you could leaveit there to decompose naturally. I don't have personal experience doing this. You can also use chemicals, there are some sold as tree killers - you probably would do it similar way as for salts. You can burn the stump - but fire is dangerous. Not sure if you can set it where you live. You could chop it or have it done, there are stump grinder available to rent or hire ppl to do it. Could be pricey? Rina

Here's what I do with Sedums on a stump. Just a scoop of topsoil and then I place the Sedums on top and walk away. No need to water even in our dry summers. This stump is in partial shade. <a href="http://s75.photobucket.com/user/Botann/media/IMG_3663.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i283/Botann/IMG_3663.jpg" border="0" alt="Sedums on a stump photo IMG_3663.jpg"/></a> Here's another with some rocks added and a hardy Geranium groundcover.