Thanks Patricia. I hadn't even considered a higher retaining wall. Matching the stone may be tricky since its used up the entire driveway and into the back yard.. Would you bring the wall up to the height of the driveway or have it slope gently down?

It looks like some places have groundcover, but in other places, they are out-competed by rock. The rock is in the way of plants growing well. People use it because they think it's going to end their weed problems, but it doesn't. I'd want ... green slopes. What groundcover do you have now that are doing well?

Yardvaark, current ground cover on the hill between the driveway and the road is english ivy (of which I'm not a fan). I was told by neighbors that the total hill was covered with ivy until a couple of winters ago. I wasn't sure if I was going to keep the ivy so at the level spot at the top of the driveway I planted morning glory and ornamental grass. It's doing great.

The area between the driveway and the house is pachysandra. I added phlox between the rocks because it has grown favorably for me in the past. There are some other plants popping up but they usually get eaten by the deer, especially the hostas (despite best efforts with the smelly products).

We were told the first owners of the home were gardeners (wife had the front, husband the back yard). The terrain is so steep the wife had to tie herself to a tree to weed. When I weeded a couple of months back, the rock was slippery and fell to the bottom. The husband, on the other hand, left us fabulous beds and great soil in the backyard.

I wasn't sure whether the rocks were there to help with the rain or to fill in the blank spots on the hill for the sale of the house. If we can use planst, I'd like to do that. Did notice most folks do have ground cover but was hoping to jazz up the front a little. There are a lot of trees so when it storms and branches fall, it's difficult to get to them so just trying to make life a little easier for us.

Is it weird to have more than one or two areas of ground cover in the same areas? Should I try to add a couple of plants into the landscape? I don't know what the prickly bushes are at the bottom of the driveway along the sidewalk (not a fan) but they are growing well. Appreciate your opinion and how quickly you responded.

Cascading plants and ones that grow low and wide are your friend. Definitely get rid of the rocks.

I went to Pitt :)

"... current ground cover on the hill between the driveway and the road is english ivy (of which I'm not a fan). I was told by neighbors that the total hill was covered with ivy until a couple of winters ago." Would the fact that it's not covered now be due to human intervention, or some natural cause?

"Did notice most folks do have ground cover but was hoping to jazz up the front a little. I'm sure you've noticed that lawns can be either horrible looking -- weed infested and mangey -- or they can look like perfectly smooth, green velvet draped over the land like melted Velveeta. Groundcovers are no different. They are the 'lawn' where mowed grass is either too difficult or impossible because of slope or lack of light. There would be nothing intrinsic to groundcovers that preclude their being a stunning portion of a person's yard. The idea of "jazzing up" the yard is a completely independent and separate question for which you'd show a completely different set of pictures (a whole, continuous, complete, all-inclusive scene, instead of various individual shots from different camera points of view.)

There are a lot of trees so when it storms and branches fall, it's difficult to get to them so just trying to make life a little easier for us." Is that a comment about groundcover? Does it mean you're looking for plants where fallen tree branches don't need to be removed? I'm not sure what you're implying. Some groundcovers can be walked on occasionally and suffer not at all.

It sounds like the ivy had significant winterkill. So unfortunately, it can't be counted on to solve the problem. The slope also sounds too sunny for pachysandra. It isn't evergreen, but Virginia creeper will work.

The plan should be to replace the rocks with a groundcover that can handle the conditions, and keep the weeds at bay. Keep it simple. The maintenance will be less, and it will be more in keeping with the house. I'd get rid of the shrubs along the sidewalk because they add nothing and add work.