laurastheme......If you are wanting to eliminate so much bending,how about using large planters ? You could use any color if you cover with a very thick bed of straw after positioning them where you'd like.I mentioned above about using carpet and the lots of mulch in one flower bed.The mulch is proably about a foot and a half atm,but I'll have to add more as it settles and decomposes.We put down the carpet,filled in w mulch then I planted daylilies in the mulch along w soil.I will proably add potted plants in the spring and hide the black pots in the straw.No one but myself knows about the pots.Easier to weed and take care of. I love plants and flowers,but am looking for more that require little maintenance.My health isn't great atm,and I don't know how I'll be over the next year.I don't want to stop gardening,but need to get more creative in ways to make it easier.

Jr, Welcome to my hill, but mine is sandy, has competion of live oak trees, and the soil is terrible. My hill is steep, hard to get a wheel barrel up, I go at an angle, and for the past 5 years, I have been growing things on it. I don't use weed cloth. Basically because I could care less about weeds. Sometimes in the morning I will weed, but if you have enough plants, you won't get too many bad weeds. Your going to slide all over with that stupid weed cloth anyway, and the weeds grow right through it. From what I have learned, unfortunately the hard way is, Rocks are your friend. I bought rocks every year for the past 5 years and keep placing them. There is no way I could get that many rocks in my car and do it all in one year. Plant some tall shrubs, it shelters in rain, and when they grow in, provides a little bit of shade for the other plants. Use lots of composted cow manure when you plant. I never rake too many leaves off the hill, only when they are excessive. I buy the specail mulch from Home Depo, it is shredding for hills, it doens't move in a bad rain storm. It is cypress and says on the bag, Stays Where you put it. It is better than pine straw. I used both, the mulch from HD is better. I planted these plants, Daylillies- best hill plants in the world. St. Johns Wort- must rake leaves around these, they don't like them. Little Princess spirea- unbelievably hardy. Boxwood- they anchor things down. Broom, strong as an ox Crape myrtle, it won't die. Vinca Sedum Chaste tree, it was growing wild on my front lawn, one of my volunteers, so I put on hill, it is doing alright. Ornamental grasses, anchors. My blue rug junipers arent' doing too well, but still alive. Well, good luck, and have patience, it'll take alot. LOL!

treebarb, I've been in love with Abies concolor for decades; have never owned one. I'll go peek at Lowe's. We haven't made a decision yet, family stuff in Florida happened and we just returned home. Do you think the shallow roots would be a problem? We don't want it falling over in the wind and hitting the house (but of course on a 3-foot Lowe's tree we'd not have to worry about that for a while)! The neighbor's trees are not any wind protection. One is at the very front of her house and the other smaller juniper is between our houses. The prevailing winds are straight up the slope much of the time, so whoever's out back is going to have to withstand 50+ up to highest measured at 76 mph. Doesn't happen all the time, of course, but I'd say 20% of the year at least. I just looked up Bosnian pine: "tolerant of severe wind exposure". I like its looks online, and it sounds like the ticket to me. Thanks for your helpfulness. I very much appreciate it.

Without landscape fabric, if and when you want to excavate the rocks, it makes it more difficult because you get dirt mixed in a lot with the rocks when you try to remove them, which makes them weigh more and also if you want to use the rocks again for any purpose, you have to rinse them off (ask me how I know). But it does help with the weeds, to a point. On the other hand, if you want to change the design and plant some additional plants, you have to not only remove the rocks, but cut a hole in the liner. Over time, weed roots can exploit small cracks in the liner and they they are somewhat more difficult to pull. And if a plant dies and you don't replace it, you have an odd hole. None of these are deal breakers, just things to consider. With a small courtyard like yours, a gravel surface, if done correctly, would be fab. In the photo I posted of our raised bed courtyard, I love the look and utility of the gravel surface. I just posted that to show that I know a bit about what it takes to maintain it. It's not onerous for me, and again YMMV depending on what is nearby. I have lots of weeds that can blow over in my situation. I do love the formal appearance of a gravel courtyard. There's a right way and wrong way to do them, and if done correctly there should be minimal stone creep. Not zero, but minimal. With the right kind of gravel, there is a fine dust from the edges of the rocks which helps secure them. There are different types of gravel for different situations and many ways of installing them. I've seen some gorgeous installations and some poor ones. Make sure you either have the advice of an expert or if you hire it out, visit some of the other projects the landscaper has done over time and ask them how it has worked out. My best friend had a gravel patio mixed with flagstone, it was wonderful, so it can be done well and can also be a very cost effective method of covering a surface for lawn furniture, fire pits and the like. One plus as far as a patio goes, is if you chose an permeable installation method, it allows for water to be absorbed, thus reducing stormwater runoff from your property.