Thanks y'all. The erosion is only at the bare areas and it covers pretty much the whole first section of fence. After that it is not eroding but is still on a slope. I will need to dig out some of the soil that has eroded to uncover the bottom portion of the fence and then use some sort of rock or something to cover that bottom portion of fence to hold in the mulch if I use it so it doesn't wash through the chicken wire on the fence when I landscape there. I would plant grass there but with this area in the corner of the yard the dogs go there a lot to lay down or bark at passerbyers but they tend to leave planted areas alone for the most part. If I plant something that will grow kind of tall there to block the view they will spend less time in that area. I guess I'm to the point that I'm wanting to take my backyard back and be able to enjoy it myself since I spend so much time out there with the dogs. I've been planning on this for a couple years but got my plans in motion when one of my dogs died in January and I put in a pond for a memorial area for her.

I've been going up and down and up and down just taking in all your lovely flowers. The garden shots are great, since there is so much green in addition to the flower colors. Those of us in the no-rain zones are pretty tired of burned out brown. I do love all of them but I'll just mention Dancing With Sandra, Late Round, and Pinhill Claret Symphony. Hope there are still more late bloomers to come. I'll be watching. Avedon

I think this is going to turn out to be a learning experience for you over the next few years when you see how huge that grass is going to become. In spite of people saying you must move it away from the fence, it is much too close to it and the bed it's in is much too small. One plant should not be closer than 3' to 3 1/2' to the fence. Also, there is no point in placing two like that. Isn't there another corner of the back yard where you could use it to balance out the overall scene? ...Or somewhere else? If you look how big and fat the plant is in my illustration, which I'm not exaggerating, you'll see that the current placement is not going to work out. If you want to add color in front of the grass, increase the bed size large enough to accommodate more plants. You could expand the bed either to right or left along the fence. Or you could make a quarter circle bed that goes from side fence to back fence, and encircle the entire front of the grass with a lower perennial. Hybrid daylilies might work out well as they take full sun, are easy, and can be very long blooming. Or, you could do annuals.

Wow!! that looks amazing! Thank you. I just needed help with shade plants.. or a tree to go in the corner. I love all the flowers and bushes in the corner you did up!!