My small bed in front of the house has a short 3 step walkway going up to an English Roseum Rhodo in full bloom right now on a second level I made with rocks, so it's slightly elevated above everything else. On the right side of the walkway is my Pat Austin getting ready to explode and further up the walkway(only 3 stepping stones long) is Belinda's Dream. In between PA and BD, I planted purplish/blue Capanula(bellflower)........and I love it. It is somewhat similar to phlox with more of petuniaesque bloom. On the left side of the walkway is WS2000 getting ready to bloom and since I didn't know if any roses would get enough sun farther down the walkway, I planted pink buddleia behind WS2000. In between the buddleia and WS2000, I planted yellow potentilla megalantha. I wanted some yellow in the front as I have little of it. It's a nice standard geranium sized plant that gives off solid 1.5 inch yellow blooms. I just bought some lamb's ear and silvermound, although I'm not sure what I am going to do with them yet.........I just like how they feel. The rest of the small front bed consists of Endless Summer Hydrangea(blue) which is caddy corner to Pat Austin, and then a horizontal line where WS2000 has purple cranesbill, neptune heuchera, plantain lilly hosta, and a large blue delphinium. I have a wide array of colors.......almost too much so, so I am adding in more hostas, and green foilage to try to fill in spots and add some green in.

Very pretty pics! I love columbine and you have some very nice ones. As to volunteers I don't immediately recognize I usually let them flower, then pull if they are a noxious weed. I move a lot of small volunteers every spring, pot them up, or compost, depends on which plant and how tolerant I feel at the moment. Right now I still have dozens of plants and seedlings I've potted up waiting for their place. However, a lot of lamb's ears, feverfew, shasta, and even a few columbine seedlings have been composted this year as I am seriously editing my garden. I'm also giving away a lot but allowing self-seeding can lead to chaos.

Sadly, I'm reading this to get ideas for plants I CAN use in this zone/region/area. We are what my mom calls "high and dry". You dig and get 6" or less of acidic topsoil (thanks to all the oaks), then the rest of it below is sugar sand (or "blow sand"). We are about 2 miles inward of Lake Michigan, but still have way too much sand in a heavily forested area. The years-long established woodland areas have typical wintergreen (teaberry), wild blueberry, wild violets, some kind of resilient fern, some dry-loving moss, a small non-violet purple flower, and others I can't remember names. But around my mom's house (built about 6 years ago) has nothing but sand under 1" of any kind of topsoil. Maple seedling from the few trees she has seems to be the worst weed in my beds. She's struggled over time to grow any kind of lawn and is just now starting to succeed in her back yard. We haven't found ANY plant so far to be invasive besides crab grass and dandelions. Snow-on-the-mountain died after first year somehow. Vinca minor (creeping myrtle) has grown (a little) over the years, but been struggling down a north slope. Lily of the valley will work around her deck area, but spreading VERY slowly. I purposely planted a sweet autumn clematis (paniculata) just to see how invasive it can be. I doubt it will survive and/or thrive. We do have some native weed of sorts in patches in the lawn which resembles a green, creeping jenny but we leave it because it's better than just plain dirt or failing-looking, patchy grass and it stays low to the ground. Her buttercup is still very slow to spread in her part-sun back rose garden. Spread like 3' dia in several yrs. We have a place to fill with something low between the west house wall and fence that will fair well (with no watering) and/or deal with regular lawn mowings. Was looking at tansy. Just want something that didn't fly over spans to faraway beds. But I can't STAND any wild violets in my flower beds, though. I moved away from the stuff at old house. It consumed all but some roses and bulbs no matter what I did to get them out. Pulled and dug for days to no avail. Then left bed to nature... and how ugly it got! Brought a few plants with me to my mom's house and nabbing any and all violet sprouts I see popping up around them. I wanted to refresh this thread for this list anyways. Maybe I can get suggestions along the way... Otherwise, great read!

The shrubs growing on the slope look that they have been there quite a while and seem to be growing straight up. (Sometimes, if there is a bend like an old-fashioned walking stick handle in the stem near to the ground, that bend can indicate that the land is slumping.) About the tree roots showing: there's not a great deal of topsoil from what I could see so the roots have probably spread out to forage for food and water. A number of tree species have suface roots - some quite gnarled and obvious. Think swamp cypress for a start. Unless the trees are very tall and your local prevailing winds are fierce or unpredictable you aren't likely to get windthrow. On a slope such as yours I'd be looking for grooves cut by runoff from the top as the precursor to shallow gullying - and that didn't seem to be happening. Personally, I wouldn't spend on 'posh plants' for such a slope. I'd ask for 'pioneer-type' shrubs - preferably native to your area. If you have a native plants nursery near you - pick their brains. Grasses, creepers, low-nutrient environment shrubs and sub-shrubs. That soil is obviously not rich - it hasn't been colonised by much at all. If you need clues and there are cuttings at the sides of your roads check there for what will establish and thrive and stay seemly. (No one needs a slope covered in fire risk weeds!) When you visit with the plant place/s ask for SPECIFIC guidance on how to plant up a steep slope. If it has a high clay content - let them know because it will change what they will advise. If there is any better soil available on your lot, and you can spare some - mix it in with the slope soil when planting but don't bother putting in fine compost. All that happens is the plants grow out to the limits of the top grade environment and then either sulk or die. Think about buying your reveg plants in 'root trainer' tubes rather than big cans or baggies. They'll be younger and better equipped to strike out, rootwise. Hear you when you say you're budget-constrained. See if you can legally collect native seedlings of suitable plants, grow them on, then plant out. Sometimes a neighbour can be a good source. Under the bird feeder, in a garden, can be another - but expect a lot of berry-producing plants ;-) And, as the slope is a bit of a challenge - could you devise a ladder to get you upslope for planting? Or a scaffoldiong arrangement. Something with wide enough treads so you don't end up with anguished feet!