call your county extension office .. and see if they have any plant sales ... in my MI ... the soil conservation office.. offers .. at proper planting time... extremely CHEAP ... small .. native trees for soil erosion projects.. the flip side of such.. is sight and sound blocking ... i have no clue if MO offers such .. see link ken Here is a link that might be useful: well hot spit.. they do ...

I like my Witch Hazels, nice leaves and terrific fall color. Depending on the type, you can have fall blooming, and late winter flowers. I like the flash of color in the dreary late winter landscape. My Diane has fairly large leaves. I have been pretty happy with the Tardiva H. in shaded or slight shade locations. Not as droopy in heat, but might need some watering if very dry. Another idea would be grasses. I have been real happy with the striped ones, which I forgot the name of. Taller at 4-5ft, with yellow bands on the leaves. I like the color mix, and grass only needs shearing once a year. Seems quite hardy here in my Michigan location, exposed to all the wind and cold of winter. Movement in wind could give a little motion to the attractive bed in your picture. My ESummers seem to need a lot of sun and water. Droop fast. They are OK, but I expected better. Still may have a bit too much shade, though both are together and do flower on each stick but not big or heavily. This is their 3rd year there. I stick my reject plants beside the road in pots with labels and FREE. Someone always takes them!!

Hi, I would break the sloped embankment into several phases to do a bit each year. A few thoughts came to mind. Would you be interested in making a sitting deck in that area? I'm a gardener so I have some ideas. I'd look at ripping the vegetation out over a period of time and replacing it with low growing shrubs, perennial plants and definitely as you rip the crap out and flip the soil over put a couple of layers of landscape fabric and mulch. You could also get some garden 4x4s or use treated lumber (if you are not growing any vegetables) and put in a terrace and step the slope down, lay down fabric and mulch. I don't know if you are into gardening or not. If you were interested in putting a sitting deck, ripping out the vegetation and putting some interesting planting in the area could start small and gradually expand it each year so you have something to look at while you are sitting. Another thing you could add is have some large stones installed for interest. I don't know how much you are willing to spend on your area. If there are similar slopes in your area drive around to see what other folk have done. Google sloped gardens. Check out the library for gardening books. Just a few thoughts. Cheers, Peggy

In all honesty, if it were mine, I would step back for a bit and think about goals and maintenance rather than starting with plant selection. IME southern WI is an area with enough rain so that many of your most common weeds will be woody, a combo of invasives like buckthorn and bittersweet and natives that are prolific seeders like wild cherries, red maple, and box elder. Your soil will also likely have a large seed bank of herbaceous plants that if the soil is disturbed by tilling or stripping sod, will sprout. You will need a plan to keep both woody and herbaceous weeds under control, especially the invasives, and speaking from experience, two acres is a lot of weeding. Even my large clumps of staghorn sumac and elderberry aren’t dense enough to prevent weeds. I just noticed a large buckthorn that came up in my elderberry and birds perch in my staghorn sumac and plant such lovelies as poison ivy below when they poop out seeds after eating the berries. You also want to know if there are any town ordinances that control what you can grow. Some areas have “weed” ordinances that require that you either have beds or mown turf. Do you have deer or woodchucks? Are ticks an issue in your area since they are far more of a problem in areas of tall grass and shrubs than in turf? Do you have a use for turf areas such as a play area for kids or just to set off a view? In my area there are many folks who maintain fields of herbaceous plants or woodlands, but IME shrubs won’t be as easy to maintain without hand work. I regularly use hands and pliers to remove seedlings of woody and herbaceous plants from densely planted shrub beds because if I didn’t they would be overrun by tree seedlings, and use a brush cutter a couple of times a year to to keep fields from reverting to forest. For two acres you will either need to learn how to use a scythe or buy a brush mower or hire someone who has the proper equipment to maintain fields or meadows. IME, mown lawn or unmaintained woodlands are by far the easiest maintenance there is, though two acres is too small for a true woodland and will still need weeding. I would consider starting with some beds of native shrubs and perennials with perhaps some stretches of the property where you can convert to small unmown areas. See how much maintenance you can manage and whether you enjoy it. Your choice isn’t either all meadow and shrubs or all turf grass, but can be accomplished in small steps over time to suit the amount of time, skills, and energy you have. And that will change over time. What I could maintain with my husband 20+ years ago in my forties is different from what I can now maintain as a widow in my sixties, even with hired help with some work and a tractor to pull the brush mower, so I am starting to make choices about what I can reasonably maintain both now and looking into the future. You have some great suggestions above for shrubs, and I will add additional suggestions if you can tell me something about your soils, both the texture (sandy or clay or some mix) and the pH which will strongly influence what you can grow. There is a fair range of pH in WI, so we need to know what yours is for many plants. One large shrub to consider that is tolerant of a range of soils is spicebush, Lindera benzoin. Very early, tiny flowers create a haze of chartreuse, and it has bright yellow autumn leaves and supports spice bush swallowtail as well as early pollinators.