We have a similar slope at the end of the driveway. The upper level is a row of pine trees. I planted vinca as a ground cover and daylilies where ever I could. It took awhile but now it is really pretty.

Hmmm. No water after early summer -- except natural rainfall. Well, if you plant now, maybe things can settle in well before next summer.

I am not usually a fan of vinca, but Liza's suggestion does seem very practical. You could plant a million daffodils as you put in the vinca, and maybe vinca would disguise the daff foliage during die-back? I am thinking of something like White Flower Farm's picture of "daffodils for naturalizing".

I have daylilies in a place I *never* water and they are just fine. I do like to be able to dead-head them regularly, tho, so I don't know if you want them where you can't reach them. Other plants I never water and never dead-head (well, only rarely) in my full-sun driveway hell strip are nepeta, a couple of agastaches, helianthus, something that might be called poppy mallow (kind of like a hot pink cranesbill geranium), achillea, asclepias and rudbeckia.... I think 7 hours of full sun might be enough?

My favorite source of ideas for plants I never water is High Country Gardens. Why don't you start there?

Good luck!

ML

I wouldn't suggest white clover because it gets awfully ratty looking when the flowers go by. I like the ideas above, including vinca and native shrubs. It could be a decent place for a large stand of lowbush blueberry. A non-native alternative would be heath, which will bloom in late winter.

It would help if we knew your zone; others may know where Auburn NH is, but I'm clueless.

Whatever you plant, you might try investing in soaker hoses for the first season or two; these would help your plants get established. Some early watering is a good investment, since you'll be buying plants and doing all that prep work. If mint won't grow with the conditions and care you've provided in the past, you have to either stick with mulch, wild underbrush, and weeds, or plan to provide the plants in your next attempt with some more hospitable conditions, at least until they are established.

because we have a series of dug-down paths, we have a series of steep garden slopes along those paths. what works for us, spreading VERY well and quickly:
ajuga
persicaria lance corporal
veronica repens
variegated mint
cryptotaenia
perilla
geranium macro....
geranium phaeum
various lamium

we're in winchester ma. if you'd like to come see these in action at our arboretum gardens.
best,
mindy
cottonarboretum@comcast.net

I am rehabbing a steep slope and here is what is working there (I have tried a bunch of stuff and this is what is thriving):

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Agastache (Korean Mint)
Goldenrod
Yarrow
Pennisetum ornamental grass - dwarf

You said Goldenrod did not work there? Was it a planted variety or the native type? You might want to look around your area for stands of native goldenrod growing in similar spots and transplant some to your hill.

You could also try some of the tough native grasses eg Little or Big Bluestem, or Switchgrass.

I forgot to mention that at the base of the slope, where it meets the driveway I planted spreading juniper. This keeps the soil from washing down on the driveway.

hmm, that was going to be my suggestion - i have a mild slope and planted juniper too.

ps - I forgot to mention that my experience with clover is in my lawn. There, it looks fine until the flowers turn brown. Since most of the lawn is clover, it looks very messy at that point.

Auburn, NH is near Manchester, in the southern third of the state, so is zone 5.

In my experience, part of successful growing on a slope is having the right mulch - something with enough texture that it will stay put relatively well and slow down the runoff of what precipitation there is. (I use curly shavings from my husbands' wood lathe, so I can't make recommendations for a commercial mulch.) It's also important what the soil texture is - on a sandy slope in a sunny area it is much harder to get plants established than in areas like mine where there is a reasonable amount of fine particles - silt and clay - in the soil so it's a nice loam. Suggestions of checking out nurseries like High Country Gardens where they regularly stock plants that need low water is a good suggestion, since often winter damp is what kills off those plants, and your slope will prevent that problem. In one of my slope beds I planted a borderline hardy western Agastache and it is just finishing its third growing season and is blooming its heart out. Regardless, the suggestion of planning on using drip hoses the first year is a good one to get those plants established, since until a plant has good roots it will need supplemental water. I like the idea of a mixed shrub & perennial garden with drought tolerant plants. (Though I'm probably biased since I like mixed borders in many situations!) If you visit your local library and borrow perennial and shrub books (you can get them through interlibrary loan if you need to) many will have lists of plants for certain situations, including dry areas.

Be sure to edge the garden so that grass doesn't grow into the desired plants - prevention is always better than trying to get rid of weeds. A layer of cardboard or several layers of newspaper under your mulch will help prevent unwanted volunteers, and if there is already something growing, however badly, on this slope, be sure to kill it off first, either with a short lived herbicide like Roundup, or with black plastic sealed at the edges covering the area for one growing season.

A final thought - sometimes putting in a low wall and backfilling to reduce the slope will help whatever you decide to plant be more successful.

Some other thoughts of plants that might work well:
I have daylilies planted on a steep slope, with some shrubs along the bottom. I also have a part shade slope that I have planted with deciduous rhododendrons, but I don't think this would work in most cases.
Rugosa roses might be a good idea unless the Japanese beetles are really bad in your area since they are quite hardy and tolerate beach sand as well as nicer soil.
Groundcover Junipers will grow well once established, but will need extra water until then.

To get more specific suggestions, could you give us more information on the amount of sun this area gets and what type of soil is there?

I have a very steep slope that gets late afternoon/ evening sun i live in WV….the slope gets a ton of leaves from Sept thru Jan….very difficult almost impossible to mow? any suggestions on mulch, spreading juniper, creeping pholox or others…open to any and all ides…..vecvecnumber7@gmail.com

Make a new post of your own. people often dont read to the last entry of an old post which is where your question is.