The rock wall is handsome. I would hold off removing the trees. If you plant some more evergreen plant material they will blend in.

The evergreens are not in good condition and look pretty sad in the summer months. Also they have kind of grown over into the neighbours property and our attempts to trim did not work well.

Can you take close up photos of them? They look fine to me but a closer image would help and could confirm ID.

The evergreens look beastly to me. Maybe you could use tree form large flowering shrubs instead, for a more cheery appearance.

Hi Lynn Eager! A trumpet vine might look nice against the back fence. Here is a website that talks all about gardening in Ontario. On this particular page, there is a list of native plants: Landscaping with native plants. I hope this helps!

damask_rose : )

Thank you for the suggestions everyone. Gardengal...the evergreens are definitely going, but thank you.... Yarvaark... yes, some flowering shrubs.. any suggestions? damask-rose...a trumpet vine would b pretty on the fence, however there is little to no soil in that area, only stones and asphalt from parking area behind it.

Trumpet vines very quickly grow out of control and are impossible to remove once you've put them in. I know from personal experience in the Niagara Peninsula. Don't plant them.

Thank you, we will definitely steer clear of the Trumpet vine. When we bought the property the previous owner had planted some type of ivy/trailing plant against the stones that grew like a weed and insisted on growing down into the actual bed. Took for ever to remove.... and it’s difficult to work on the top of the slope.

It would be helpful to know more about where you live. Southern Ontario has many different zones. Even Toronto has 3 zones - and they are very different, having gardened in the warm one near the lake and a colder one nearer the 401. https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-ontario-plant-zone-hardiness-map.php

I'm another one who wouldn't remove those evergreens.

I also have a slope at the back of my property. I've planted quite a bit of it with evergreens and evergreen ground cover to avoid having to pull weeds or maintain perennials on that slope. Planting on a slope means the water runs right off, so you need drought tolerant plants. With an east facing bed, especially with a solid fence to the south and the shed also shading some of it, you have both low water and relatively low light. You need some tough plants to get established there.

I have used a lot of vinca as ground cover which, when established, is totally maintenance free. Blooms now with blue flowers, evergreen. A tip for planting it in a tough spot, just lay it down and plant the whole stem underground with just the top leaf or two sticking out. It looks weird but if you plant just the roots, most of the leaves will die anyway and sometimes the whole plant, and it will take forever to get established. If you plant the whole thing then it will root wherever a leaf attaches to the stem, and it will look great in no time.

For lowest maintenance, plant the back 8 feet with evergreens and leave 2 feet at the front for annuals.

To give you an idea of how many plants and shrubs you'll need, these are 4 foot shrubs with annuals at the front.

Thank you Partim. You have given me some ideas. The Zone map was very helpful and it turns out we are in Zone 6b. We would consider keeping those evergreens at the back, but they are past their prime and are continually brown in the lower parts. They are approximately 17 years old. We figured it would be better to start fresh with new plants rather than have to go back again in a couple of years and disturb things removing those evergreens when they are completely dead. We have already removed most of the existing plants an planned on tackling the big evergreens later this week. We can pull the old landscape fabric off then and try to enrich the soil a bit before re-planting.
As we all know, due to Covid it hasn’t been possible to just go and poke around the garden centres for ideas. However, we do have one that is near us that is actually open now and not just “curb-side”. We are hoping to get there when the lines aren’t excessive and make some decisions. We have obtained some mature hostas from a neighbour and were thinking that they might work for us as part of the bottom planting. Not sure if some clumps of day lilies would also work for some colour. I am trying to stay away from annuals.

IMO the evergreens are way too large for such a small plot. I do agree some flowering shrubs for sure and on the slope I would do some vinca it is evergreen and has little purple flowers fills in nicely and does well in shade to semi shade. I have clay soild too and what I find works is for every plant I dig a hole 2 x as large as needed and mix the clay with peat moss and steer manure it works to break up the soile and has always worked well for me. I agree some hostas would be nice and I would power wash that fence. I love that there are plants growing in the wall . You could even do some planters that hang on the fence if you are allowed to cover some of the fence. They would make a nice backdrop to the rest of the garden

Hosta are nice plants but can I suggest that if your neighbour is sharing the very common white and green striped hosta, that you pass on the offer. They are very susceptible to snail and slug damage and even if you use a lot of the chemical pellets to try to kill them, they still get eaten up badly every year. Other hostas are much more resistant but that common old variety is a real pain.

Day lilies should do well there.

For annuals, I love an edging of sweet alyssum. It comes in white or purple, and seeds itself every year. Mine is just coming up now in Toronto. Annuals that come up from seed like this are a money and effort saver. They act almost like perennials.

I hear you on wanting to improve your clay soil, but taking up the landscape fabric and enriching the soil is a really big job and may not make that much of a difference. My parents live in Welland and have very heavy clay, and their shrubs grow just fine. Roses love clay soil because of the high mineral content, and most plants do just fine in it for that reason too. One of the "problems" with clay is that it holds water and does not drain well, but this is actually an advantage when planting on a slope because otherwise the plants would need constant watering. Don't do more work than you need to do. Look around you in the wild areas where you live - the plants are growing just fine without any soil amendments. https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/top-ten-lists/top-10-shrubs-clay-soil

As far as digging a bigger hole and amending the soil, don't do that. Here's an article that explains why. https://www.gardenmyths.com/soil-amendments-dont-amend-before-planting/ My SIL who is a landscape designer has confirmed that this article is correct - don't do it. The roots get unhappy at the edge of the amended soil and stay within the improved soil. Not good and it can even kill the shrub.

The Fairy is a fabulous rose that never needs spraying, blooms for a long time, and loves clay like all other roses.

" I have clay soild (sic) too and what I find works is for every plant I dig a hole 2 x as large as needed and mix the clay with peat moss and steer manure it works to break up the soile (sic) and has always worked well for me. "

Possibly the worst possible advice for planting in clay soil you could receive!! Amending planting holes in clay soil with a highly water retentive mix of peat and manure pretty much guarantees creating a bathtub effect where the planting hole just holds in water, drains very slowly and creates issues with root rot.

For best results planting in clay, dig a very wide but shallow planting hole, plant high (top of rootball above grade) and use the unamended backfill to mound up to the top of the rootball.

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) but for planting on a slope, I wouldn't plant high as you described above. Just normally. There will be no danger of root rot on a slope.

"There will be no danger of root rot on a slope."

There certainly can be if the previous suggestions were followed!! And to be honest, the OP's situation does not present much of a slope at all. I would still plant high. In fact, planting high or with the top of the rootball just slightly elevated above grade is recommended for any planting situation, clay soils or not.

Thank you “partim” for the heads up on the hosta. Yes, they are the green/yellow. I had noticed in some gardens how ratty some of the hostas looked, and wasn’t a big fan of them .... now I know. Luckily I do have another source. Our daughter purchased a home in London, Ont and the previous owner was an avid gardener. There are multiple types of hostas that are very mature and need thinning or removing as our daughter is planning a massive reno to the property and some of the gardens will be removed.

”gardengal” Just to clarify about the “hill” or slope. Just guessing... there is probably about a 4-5ft difference in height between the bottom at the grass edge to the bottom f the retaining wall. Enough that it is uncomfortable to stand on for a length of time. I know that it doesn’t show too well in the pics.

By the advice we have been given, it looks as if we have been saved a lot of work not having to try and improve the soil...phew!

The heatwave has slowed down our progress a little... but we are working on it......

Choose hostas that have thick leaves, especially the "corrugated" ones. They are much less susceptible to slug/snail damage than the ones with flat papery leaves.