Specific types of garden plants are ideal when setting up a garden on a slope on your property. Get garden plans for slopes with help from a landscape designer and horticulture writer in this free video clip.
Hi, I'm Marci Degman the aspiring gardener. Today, we are going to talk about garden plants for a slope. Now, I chose a slope that was in a hot, dry position, because this is the most difficult spot in my entire garden. And over the years I've tried so many plants and I've tried doing different things and I've learned a lot about how to grow things on a slope. The reason mine is so difficult is for two reasons. It gets really hot afternoon sun. And there's fir trees around it which also draws tons of water out of the soil. So, what you have is the driest, hottest, position in my garden. And anytime you have a slope you already have good drainage. So, any moisture that does land on there goes away really quickly. So, what I've learned over time is to really put tough plants on a slope. Now, this golden oregano is probably the toughest plant in my entire garden. It doesn't mind heat, it loves heat. It requires very little water. It's a very, very colorful ground cover. And what I do with this is I usually just keep it cut back. But you can let it flower, it gets purple flowers. Another plant I have two different types that has been a real trooper is the box honeysuckle. And that is not a flowering honeysuckle. It's just kind of like a little shrub. But it's very drought tolerant and it will get in and kind of help pull the hillside in a little bit cause it's got a root system to it. Now bracken fern is a native fern around here and it actually can colonize really large areas in bright sun, in open space is where it never gets any care at all. So it kind of moved in here and I let it stay and it's doing just fine. So, I never have to do anything with that. And another really good tree here is a yellow witch hazel which I never water and I never do anything with that either. So if you have a slope like I do and it's very hot and it's very difficult. Put the toughest plants you can. The most drought tolerant. Make sure they are plants that can grip the hillside and kind of help pull it together. And don't try to make it your most colorful beautiful flower garden. Concentrate on ground covers. Herbs are perfect. Plants that are tough, and you'll have a nice looking slope.