That is a steep slope! If it is feasible, I'd build a deck out over the slope and then plant the rest with things that would hold up on that slope. Kind of create a pretty view that won't require a lot of maintenance.

I worked with a woman who bought a bigger house with her husband. She was so surprised that they got it so cheap. We were invited over after she moved in and we looked around the house and thought she got an awesome buy. It was a very nice place. That is until she opened up the back door and there was a steep hill right outside the door! Your slope there reminds me of what she had right outside her back door. She quit and went to work somewhere else so I never did find out what she did with it.

Thanks Luna, Luckily, this slope is 20 or 25 feet from the back door. There are lots of slopes in SoCal that are just like you described. This one is clay soil, hot and dry. Those sprinkler lines in the photo haven't worked for a long time, and the plants survive with no water except rain, which we don't get much of. It should be a fun project (or at least fun when it's done, lol). Linda

this project is going to be important to follow the progress....I have a slope in my backyard that is similar..
but it's 125'by about the same 27' or so...
just about as steep and a daunting job, that I have no clue of what to do with..
the 15 trees that used to be there, were cut down by a builder, who had the road widened, utilities buried there, behind the chain link fence and a houseing development put in, at the end of the road, to the right of the picture..
soon to be about 400 newly constructed houses...
I used to have privacy, stability on the hill and some security....not now.
not a pleasant feeling, at all.

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It would be a lot of work but could you put in some terraces combined with the switchbacks? They would help hold what precip you do get and help stabilize the soil. You could plant them with some cascading/creeping plants for variety. The terraces could also go "around", not in the literal sense of course, the mature plantings you're trying to keep to minimize root disturbance during this project.
Just a thought. Good luck!

Big job. But like the idea of switchbacks. Think it would help the runoff problem. Let us know what you decide to do.

Oh...WOW...and I thought our yard was a lot of work!!

I love the idea of the switchbacks, and can hardly wait to see the finished project. Good luck with it!

~Sandy~

I like the switchback idea too. You could create the feeling of your own private mountain. But I was going to say you need to leave one side a hill for sledding, lol. Then I remembered you are in CA. Maybe a little shelter at the top like for camping.
kathy

I love the switchback trails and terrace idea. I can also see a terrace area large enough for an ornamental water feature and/or bistro table or rock bench seating area. This should be right in the middle of the slope. That could be the first attraction on the trails. Then the eye catching appeal of the wide board fence will draw *Nanna's little hikers* to the top. How are planning to decorate your fence? I bet I know.tee hee Susie

You know, I thought of the deck that would project out over the hillside because, being handicapped, there is no way on God's green earth that I'd be walking up and down a slooped path! lol! I was also thinking of the view from the homeowner's perspective and not their neighbors. To me, the switchbacks would offer someone from the perspective of the photographer in the picture a gorgeous view but they wouldn't have to climb up and down the hill. So keep in mind how often you'd want to trudge up and down the hill when you are landscaping.

Looking at that slope reminded me of the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum here in Milwaukee. They have a gorgeous "waterfall" down the center of slope like that with stairs along side of it. The hill is planted with shrubs and then at the bottom there is a lovely garden. Google "Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum" and you'll see pictures of it.

aka_strawberrygoat, I think your hill will help hide the new housing coming in if you plant it right. It reminds me of berms that people build to cut down on noise from a nearby street or to create a sense of privacy. I'd plant a variety of trees, shrubs and wildflowers (because they can take care of themselves) on the hill to create a wall of plants to block out your new neighbors, to stop erosion and to prevent all the water flowing down straight towards the foundation of your house.

Hi Linda~

Wow, you do have a steep slope to work with. My first thoughts were to specify a couple of "planting" areas...almost like small rooms...wherever the view would be most pleasing. Then, I would incorporate the use of the switchback paths, but not overdone. I'm visualizing using large boulders or rock plantings...dug into the hillside of course, with lots of ground cover..trailing type plants and minimal plantings within the majority of the hillside...letting the groundcover take over in most places and reserving the "rooms" to landscape. Perhaps constructing a pergola in one of the rooms would serve as a focal point. I have no idea if this is making sense, but I can see the picture in my mind...I'll see if I can draw something and send it to you.

I know we are being bad by posting this topic BUT I am sooo excited to see it as I am getting a deer fence and some landscaping done to my back yard Tomorrow!!!! Mine is 60ft wide x 130ft deep/down!!! I have broken my leg once and my tailbone bruised another time...in 4 years I've lived here!!! DH is balking about me spending $5000, but I AM WORTH IT!!!! Besides I'm Paying the bill so hmm!!! I noticed that Strawberry has the same kind of round garden art that I do!!!heh heh! Yup, I put a window in our shed so I could see my soon to be "Garden Junk Wunderland"!!!


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BackYard

I would plant lots of small trees and shrubs on both Strawberry and Linda's hills. Simply because they have bigger/deeper root systems and could help to stabilize the hillside.

For Strawberry I would plant some pines and then some smaller trees, like cherry or crabapple, then you could underplant with hostas.

For Linda I would stick to the smaller trees, make sure at least one is at the top to provide shade for your bench. After planting the trees, then I would fill in with shrubs then easy care shade plants.

I also lived on a steep hillside before we moved to our new house 19 years ago. It was always a challenge to maintain that hillside. We watered it and planted ground cover but it was way to steep to walk up.
The terrace idea is a good one and the switch back trails.

I live in Ca. & I wouldn't want big boulders on a hill-we have earthquakes!! Switchback trails are very good idea. i walked up my bro's & it was just about same as your's Linda. On the right side my dad built a beautiful gazabo & it was painted white & was lovely, they had a patio table & chairs in it but it was about 8 steps up to it. It got used very little!!!It was probably a selling point but going up those steps with food, cold drinks etc was work!! The rest of hill was just planted with things, mostly 3-4 fruit trees & I'll have to see if I can find a pic. As I mentioned before fruit trees did well, apricot, peach, 2 apples "Beverly Hills" apple does well in our heat & it is a delicious large green apple with red streaks & firm good eating & wonderful for pies & cobblers. I think Jade plant would be great it gets quite large & if it gets too big it is easy to cut back, very juicy stems, you don't want a lot of leafy trees so you will have a mess every fall. Use the succulents as they don't shed much, if break off easy to remove,it will be a big job keeping it up & most people don't after a few years so has to be simple. And so easy to fall. Dad went up there a bunch of times they moved about 2001 so by then bro was only 1 that would even try it & he only went up to get fruit & trim off something dead. New house they look down on all these people with yards like he used to have!!They are only 3 yrs old wonder what it will look like in 10 yrs. How to you scan a photo to a computer? Jan

I like the idea of a small deck maybe with pergola in the center put small table and chairs. And then do the switcchback maybe putting some ot that concrete and brick to decorate the switch backs. Have fun!

Suculants sound great but cactus with spines may hurt the climber you happen to sit on them, LOL OUCH

Sylvia

Congratulations Calamity! Be sure to post after pics. And I don't think that this is really offftopic cuz we have to have a backdrop for our creations don't we? After all this is the GARDEN Junk, not the Junk, forum.
kathy

lol...yeah, those round garden art artifacts, have turned into some rhubarb and tomato planters..

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I liked that idea of the smaller trees for the shade, with hostas underneath..
heaven knows I have enough hostas to fill in there, where any shade will be...

this was in 2004

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and then, I raised them and divided them..this was last summer..

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plans are in the making for a plant sale, this year, to help pay for supplies I need to support this habit..lol
they've only been play time, till this season. If I divide carefully, I should end up with over 300 of them.

that would look totally awesome, up there on that back hill, which has been neglected for all the years I've been here.
I'd thought of a zig zag line of laurel, along the chain line, but never did decide what to do to fill below.
morning glories was going to be a choice but I need more stability and privacy than they would do.

I always worry about cars hitting that fence and coming into the yard..the trees that used to be there, were my buffer..

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I was promised a security fence...so far, that's in vain.

Stawberry, didn't you run a tree farm? And now a hosta farm!!! I'll have to come to your sale!!! Soooo...heeeerrreeesss some pics!!!

my sloped walkway

wheelbarrow accessable!!!

Let's just make a nice terrace on this slope!!!

I hope you don't get too "tired" looking at these pics!lol!
Sheesh, if I am this excited about the landscaping the first day...what will I be like when they come tomorrow and the next few days, to redo the irrigation system and put in the deer fencing!!!!??? YEEHAW!!!

Personally I think dog trots are too much climbing up. I would rather walk 8 steps to a path and then walk flat for a while than walk up that hill, even as a dog trots. I see you have some steps on the side near fence. If you made a series of horizontal leveled paths coming off the stairs, it would be less walking. Maybe one below and one above the trees. Later you could do steps on other side and maybe middle of the slope. Maybe put in some railroad ties with rebar holding on the outside with plants on outside of those and some bricks or something on the inside of path to hold your plants on that side out of your path. This will control water also. Sprinklers at the very top will help water the whole hill cause it will trickle down. Add a hose attachment to the end and hook up a hose to water.

Now to have fun you could put a slide down it, lol. You could use it to pull a bucket up the hill. LOL.

If you sank two poles with crossbars in area between the two trees, you could cut out the bank behind it a little and make a patio there. Maybe sink in a steel post with a hole big enough to hold an umbrella when you wanted to sit up there. Solar lights on patio and pathway would be nice to guide you down at nite after looking at the lights of the city (or carry a flashlight, lol) Or you could put a small patio area on the one path to the left of trees and one patio area on the other path to the right of trees.

Also shepherd hooks along the path would be nice to hang plants/birdhouses/feeders. I think with the great fence you have planned, you will not need much. But the paths would be great paths for trellis or place for garden art.

omg! is that happening now?
oh, to have a real farm equipment...
this yard could handle some of that kind of work..
I'm still waiting to see what Linda comes up with..
her yard is more like what I have to deal with.

wow, Jane, I can see how you went tumbling down your yard last year...
that would scare the beegeebers out of me!
I'd be hobbling along, with a walking stick, on that slope.

Wow, thanks for all the ideas everyone. I've been out stripping more stuff off the hill, so haven't had time to reply. I installed those steps myself years ago, and needless to say, they were not for the faint of heart, lol. I pulled them out today, but they'll be back up there somewhere. Tomorrow morning a guy is coming over with some ideas. I can hire him by the day and use him whenever, as long as he doesn't have a previous appt. He seems to have lots of good ideas and is willing to let us and our yard guy do most of the labor. He also said that there's a lot of 'cool stuff' (junk) in the back yard that will look good up there. My kind of guy!!

sb goat, It's funny we have the same slope! Luckily, mine is the smaller one. I love those tires!! I never see those around here. Also, your plants are beautiful. That little pool will be a lot easier to remove than ours was.
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Calamity, I like that tire retainer wall, and will try to figure out a way to incorporate some tires into the hill. Maybe the off road places will part with some with interesting tread and I can paint them. I suspect that most cities in my state wouldn't see the humor in planting tires in the back yard. And could you send that digger over here for a few days?? lol.

Feel free to keep the photos and ideas coming. The're very helpful, and guy we're using is open to whatever we want and I've already written some of them down for him. Linda

lindas&s...I don't have to deal with anything like your backyard...but I love all these ideas and keep admiring your pic of you sitting there.

First, I think your dog-eared fence will change the entire look at the back of your hill. Can you use "used RR tyes" in CA? I think those would be very useful for some gardening steps or to hold plants in place in the side of the hill. I would put up lots of "vertical" items ... like an arbor made of 2 old doors (can you grow Mandarin Orange honeysuckle?)....also add some tall posts with bdhses or feeders or weathervanes? Please add your colorful license plate projects!!!

I know you don't want the water running down the hill but can you incorporate "rock" somehow into a meandering "dry rock bed" that runs horizontally instead???

Oh, have fun...it will be awesome! Can't imagine your CA terrain? Nor yours, strawberry & calamity! Love seeing pics as you make progress! Jeanne S.

Hi Linda, Looks like you have been working really hard. That's a really large area and I can see why you would like to use it and make it a fun place to look at. You always come up with such great ideas and your projects turn out great, so I am really excited to see what you do with this one!

No help from your neighbors, looks like just trees and shrubs on theirs. The ladies here had some great suggestions. I think the idea of a "switchback" walkway with a couple areas leveled out for a bench or a couple of chairs as you walk along and up the walkway would be great. You could then sit up there and admire the view and your "domain". LOL

Your new wooden board fence will make a huge difference by blocking part of the house behind you, and the little cutouts in it will be so cute. That will give you a great "backdrop" and will let your plants show up more.

Good idea to try to save the healthy existing plants since you already know they thrive in our summer heat. Since you already use lots of Calif. native plants, you will know which ones will do well without any irrigation. (Does the neighbor behind you water his yard? Do you get some of the runoff? That would be helpful for your plantings.) Are you going to use the red pots in places along your walkways up there? Now that would sure give a pop of color. I like the idea of arrangements of three in various sizes--that would really be a good focal point.

Know you are excited to get this project going, and I can't wait to see the results. Hope you will share some "in progress" pics with us--do you remember when Cait was creating her Our Lady Gardyn? It was so fun to sign on here and read about the section she was working on that day. ;o)

Luvs aka Kay

My computer needed memory so got some more & new Norton but wish I could get rid of all the popup ads! Anyway if I disappear it's because of computer. Yes you can use RR ties in CA. & you can even make wide steps that arn't too deep. I've been to places that have them on slope & they were like 2 ft square for each step with gravel in the middle-much less likely to fall if you are carrying pots or plants or garden equip. Hostas die on me almost instantly!! I'm so jealous!! I think they only do well with some shade out here. There was a nursery out by Ventura freeway going towards Westlake Village & it had paths of ties as the nursery is on a hillside. Try googling in So. CA. nurseries. They might have a web site. I walked on 1 picking out a rose for my yard. I wasn't driving so wasn't paying much attention to exactly where we were. They were right off the freeway & had a lovely gift shop, I think it was family owned. I looked for pics of DB backyard at other house but didn't go far enough back yet. I took a lot of pics that xmas so they are there somewhere in the tote, in shoe boxes by year in case I had to leave when we had the fire. Oh, cactus have thorns more than succulents but they are all succulents- only place I've read about them is in Sunset book called Cactus & Succulents, imagine Ortho has 1 also. They all have blooms at least once a year -or at least ones I have. Milkweed is actually 1 (I don't have it tho)Kalanchoe,Huernia confusa,donkey tail,sedums & epiphyllium are some common ones. None of these has thorns. Most do great in pots & will do well on hillside. Colors range from light greens, bluish, dark green, red, orange. Epiphyllium are the most beautiful as they have huge blooms in white, red, coral, pinks. Glad you have guy you can work with Linda, sounds like the perfect solution, someone that listens & bounces ideas off of you!!Jan