I have a few suggestions. I am near DC, so I know a few things that work in this area although I think your temperature swings are larger. First, I really love the wild look of the grass and the soft subtle shadings from gold to russet. It looks from a distance very lovely and a great transition from the lawn area to the woods. However, I think you are asking for a controlled wildness with little to no upkeep and no mulch. My instinct is that if you spread the low growing grass mix over that area, the more established grasses would beat them out. It would be patchy at best and you would have to weedwack anyway. Here are my suggestions. I think it would be lovely to plant that hill with daffodils -you would probably need hundreds - let them come up, then weedwack in early summer as the leaves of the daffodils die (don't cut beforehand or they will not store enough for next Spring). There is some type of attachment you can buy for a power drill/driver that will make the job super easy. The bulb forum is rather slow, but very knowledgeable. For summer to Fall, you would be stuck with what you have now. An alternate suggestion is to use cardboard/paper to smoother what is there and then plant perrenials with high sun/low water tolerance. There are lots of lovely hardy sedums and day lillies come to mind. I really love lavendar also. Maybe some bushes for height/erosion control. For that space, it would be a LOT of cardboard! The reason I suggest cardboard is you can use long garden staples to keep it down. It would also become dirt and need to be renewed to continue suppressing weeds. Big project every few years and to make it nice looking, I would layer fall leaves or mulch on top. Look up lasagna gardening for more details. Another choice is to buy a meadow mix, throw it out there and let the plants duke ii out --survival of the fittest! Hope my ideas are helpful! I am not so much trying to give exact instructions as to point you towards possible paths where further research can help you reach the best conclusion.

Melissa, let me know next time you're going to be around if you think you and your friend might have any time to spare. I'd love to have you stop by for a walk around my garden. It would be great to meet another hostafriend from GW :-) And I know what your friend means about Turtle Creek... I bet those guys have at least one full paycheck of mine this year!

chad_m, The humidity comes from the snowy cars coming in and melting off day after day, night after night. It's one of the issues besides operating cost of a tight, heated garage. The humidity plus road salt equals bad news for your vehicles. I have the tubes in the floor and have not yet hooked up the heat source for mine and this is one of the concerns I have. There are some humidifiers that work at lower temps, but some just keep a window cracked. This'll make the green police shudder of course. So you have the cost to heat it, then dehumidify it. In my case gas is free so the heat angle doesn't bother me one bit, but I don't want to rust out my cars so I'll probably bite the bullet on humidification. My garage has a future apartment above it so keeping the garage at 50 degrees would help keep the apartment floor warm. I had a master bedroom and closet over an unheated garage at the last house and the floor temp difference was noticeable.

That is all correct. The upward-curved vine tip will occur when the vine is growing along the ground, because when it encounters a vertical surface it is positioned to take advantage of it. The same curve will happen when it grows past the top of the vertical surface and is hanging in space because it is still seeking a vertical orientation. If it were to grow straight on the ground and in the air, it would pass the tree or vertical surface instead of attaching to it and climbing it. A straight orientation hanging in the air would put it on a trip back to the ground. This plant is programmed to climb. If it grows on the ground, its leaves are small, and its tip is curved upwards. It grows small leaves to support its growth and focus all of its energy towards elongation. Internodes are long, and it is REACHING to find something to climb. When it encounters a suitable surface and attaches, it has achieved mission number 1. Leaves get larger, and the vine thickens with each new leaf. Internodes get shorter, the tip straightens because it is vertically oriented and attached. If the tip curved now, it would launch itself out into space and defeat mission number two, which is reaching the canopy, where it can get the premium quality light. Right now it is putting all of its energy into growing large leaves, large vines, and large aerial roots to grip its host. It is happy in this position, growing the largest, most robust leaves and vines that are simply not achievable without being attached. It is still reaching (upward), but not with the same desperation. Its needs are being met while it pursues mission number 2. If you were to pry the tip away from its host, each new leaf will grow smaller, the vine will grow thinner, the internodes will lengthen, and the tip will curve toward a vertical orientation. Now it is again in reaching mode, elongating desperately in search of a new host. Now I am not a botanist, and i havent read any books on the subject. I learned this by observing its behavior when i encounter it. Maybe someone that has some botanical training can confirm or correct my hypothesis.