Claudia, Congrats with your new home! Glad to see you posting again. What do you mean by wet clay? Is the ground actually wet? if the soil is wet, you could plant bog plants and plants that love water and they will do fine. Just mix in a generous amount of cow compost in the clay and mulch, you should be able to plant any part sun bush or perennial plant. Just a thought, I jsut bought Liatris at HD on Saturday. I got 60 little bulbs for 14.99. They are perennial, they spread and are beautiful! Look up Liatris online and see if you like the look. Anyway, for part sun climbing hydrangea would love your yard, and it loves to climb on wood without damaging it. Cannas LOVE wet or moist soil, Bananas Love moist soils, you will have to mound it up when you plant it for drainage, but they are beautiful. Ajunga likes moist soil, any kind. Butterfly bush would do fine with manure, they can be planted in part sun, I would plant in sunnies spot tho. Iris would love your yard, if it gets at least 6 hours of sun. Well, that's all I can think of for now, I hope you have fun planning out your new yard. Congrats again,

That's a good question, Alice. I've been thinking about the DWC in both Dad's yard and my own. In Dad's, because for the 1st time in the 40 years he's lived there, I'm mowing his lawn. In my yard, because I've been curious about what the pullets are interested in eating when they are allowed out of their henyard. The clover is right in front of their door. The areas where the clover is dominant are in full sun and where there's ample watering. I think that the clover can out-compete the grass because the plants have more extensive roots. They benefit from all the water while the grass really doesn't. Dad's patch of nearly 100% clover is directly in front of the gate to his backyard. At one time, it had a thin layer of crushed rock. No one has ever parked there regularly except Yours Truly. I need to carry armloads of flowers in and out of that gate twice a week during the growing season. And, I park there most every day I show up. It is a fairly wide gate and I try not to drive on the same ground each and every time. Obviously, the wheel traffic isn't sufficient to kill off the clover. In fact, there's little evidence of my pickup on that ground. Remember, it has full sun and I'm usually only there for a few hours at a time. Both yards have shady areas (both wet and dry) and DWC is not in much evidence there. d'S'

I have the same issue... I've decided on some type of juniper like Blue Carpet Juniper (which stays short but spreads very well to form a "carpet" along the slope), interspersed with a few taller shrubs/small trees (like Japanese maple) for interest, and bordered with Big Blue Liriope. We had our whole back and side yard regraded (we had a major drainage problem and it washed away the grass even in the middle of the yard), and we also had a few large boulders put into the bank. They add such a great look, and are obviously low-maintenance and erosion-proof. I'm going to plant something between the boulders to give it more of a natural look... my landscaper suggested creeping Jenny, but I'm not crazy about how that looks, so I'll probably go with either creeping phlox, chameleon plant (Houttuynia cordata), or even Scottish moss. I want simple, low-maintenance, and great-looking!

If you want a retaining wall, hire a designer who is qualified to do so. In many municipalities, retaining walls above a certain height require engineered drawings and planning approval. There are also drainage issues to consider which may be beyond a homeowner's purview. The easiest course of action would be to replant the slope with a groundcover that will prevent further erosion and provide an attractive green backdrop. But you will need to keep the dogs away/off until it becomes fully established.