What is the goal? What are you planting for, privacy? What are the plants you are "cleaning" off the hill?

Start with soil analysis offered by your County Extension Agent (low or no cost). Kent State University offers Master's Degrees in Landscape Design, perhaps one of their students would consider taking on your project as a (paid) practical summer exercise. It never hurts to ask.

I contacted Kent State and emailed for a soil analysis ($20.00...NOTHING is free anymore)...Thank you for the ideas!!

Skip1909: What is the goal? Most important is CURB APPEAL....nice street and this LOT (as it is) is not pleasing. I am really sick of planting on the State of Ohio's hill so I would like something to hide that mess. That is why we planted the Hemlocks (which are mostly dead and now have to be removed,,we planted Hemlocks on the other end of our home and they are now huge! a wonderful privacy screen)....I would only clean up the flat area on the West side of our lot IF I hid a little cedar shed there. That and the hill are owned by the state (who does NO maintenance...although I did raise a fuss and they removed some really tall scraggly pines that were ready to fall over)....other than that I am open to ideas....it is hard to envision an area for entertainment because the lot is facing the street....I simply do not know what to do....we do not have a backyard and only a small patio on the other side of the house ....SO I am open to ANY IDEAS ....am sending for soil analysis since EVERYTHING dies (except the black locust) and shallow rooted plants like Hosta. We are stuck (and our home is only a 1980 split level so anything TOO Exotic would be overkill)

Does the State of Ohio know you are doing stuff on their property? Have you contacted them to have them attend to their own property? I'm not sure who Ohio's depart of environment would be for this, EPA or DNR?- but maybe one of those entities could help address the issue with the state owned land.

It is ODOT. And a few years back I complained, called, pestered and got seven guys here from ODOT, removed scraggly pine trees (big tall sticks), raked and cleaned it up. And they KNOW I am maintained their property....our mayor said I could contact them in order to put a small shed on their property. It is so FUNNY though....they brought OUT OF DATE property maps and didn't even know that some of the property is theirs. The entire I-90 corridor is a mess behind their sound barriers.

I have the ugliest duckling lot you can imagine. My property abuts state land. It, too, has a cliff. Their land is all basically "urban jungle". I also have some black locusts.

I ended up doing something entirely different with the fact that my property backs onto a wild area. I embraced the wild!

Yep, I registered for Certified Wildlife Habitat. What is Certified Wildlife Habitat? This can be a minor project in anyone's garden, or you can think of your whole property this way.

Sure, it looks messy. But it was messy before I got here, and nature is messy.

I also took a free, zoom, class offered by the state called "Backyard Woods". Maybe there's one in your state? I signed up with the forestry department. It was run by state foresters over zoom.

The class went over native vs. invasives, what to remove, how to remove it, the benefits of dead trees, what to plant, how to think of the woods, what plants will work next to salty roads, etc. to foster the natural, local, ecology.

All of these unused lands are providing a service to your community. For instance, they are cleaning your air. They are absorbing water so it doesn't flood yours or your neighbors' properties.

Messy, I learned, is the most efficient way to do any of this. And your jungle might even be enhancing the value of your lot!

My space is a work in progress, but will include native shrubs that attract butterflies, as well as native perennials like goldenrod and Joe Pye weed. In this state, natives can be purchased very cheaply from county conservation and extension services: a few dollars per shrub.

I want my little area to be safe and clean for everyone. So, I also pick up trash that has blown onto the State's property, but I don't think of it as a favor to them that requires payback. I do it for my community and for all the creatures who come and go. This, too, is about increasing property values, including my own.

Incidentally, @kathleen , is that second photo supposed to represent mess? It looks like a nice little woodsy area to me. I would want an owl in those trees. Some songbirds, cardinals through the winter, a batch of chickadees to keep me amused when things seem dead all around....

PS At least in this state, black locusts are invasives. Yours might very well be killing everything within reach. That looks like a pine, too? Well.... not a whole lot grows under them. But that's the beauty of pine trees: they put down carpets of lovely pine needles and waft lovely aromas around the block.

I recently wrote to ODOT and asked them "WHAT ARE YOUR STANDARDS FOR PROPERTY MAINTENANCE?" I probably will not get a reply.

tangerinedoor: Wow that is a low cost awesome idea. At least the ODOT property and my property to the east (which is a jungle) would be useful. I still would have to landscape my flat property but it would the two areas of jungle would have a purpose. LOVE IT!

Please sketch out a rough map of your property, the State land, whatever (road? fence?) is at the top of the hill, and the cul de sac road. Indicate north, south, etc. It is much easier to work with native plants than work against them ( tangerinedoor's description is inspirational). If old construction by the developers or the state removed loam topsoil and replaced it with less fertile soil on the hillside, your soil analysis will show a difference between where your landscaping plants already grow well and where they don't.

Refreshing to hear you are already reaching out to state entity kathleen... you might be surprised at how many folks don't even think to bother.

And it's ODOTS land? That's a good place to contact. I was thinking also the environmental folks for your state- in Michigan it's EGLE- they do environmental things like assess invasive species on municipal land, and what can be done about it. Like when a township owns a property, but EGLE gets to say what environmentally can or can't be done on that land... I was thinking your states version of EGLE could potentially address or make ODOT address some of the issues on the state property.

And tangerinedoor's commentary was well said and spot on.

@kathleen Your state's e-library likely has Bringing Nature Home. This is the new paradigm of integrating "natural environments" into your property.

Another thought: if you embrace a certified wildlife habitat concept, you might find your State neighbor to be VERY enthusiastic. And that might be the secret to them working with you to meet your needs, too.

Call them, they may sell you the lot.

https://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D07/RealEstate/PropertyManagement/Pages/default.aspx

GREAT IDEA!!! Thank you....ODOT was at my house yesterday and they were very helpful