Are you working to solve a slope dilemma in your yard?   Slopes bring a difficult challenge, but with a little knowledge, your slope can be an amazing and beautiful part of the yard.  Slopes are typically addressed with retaining walls, hardscapes or plantings.  One of the biggest challenges of slopes is the right plant for the right location.  Keeping slopes lush and vigorous is much easier with the right plantings.  If your yard has a difficult steep slope, adding grass may not be an option.  Understanding a few key factors such as sun exposure, drainage, and plant growing needs can help solve your slope situation.  Here are a few planting ideas to make your slope solution successful. 1. Full sun slopes need full sun plantings. If you can mow it and like the lawn look, then try Bermuda grass or Zoysia grass.  Establishing sod in the late winter (February/March) allows the sod to get established before the heat of summer when watering becomes more of an issue.  If you have a very steep slope or you want something with less maintenance consider shrubs or ground covers. 2. Shrubs and ground covers on a sunny slope: try shrubs that need little to no pruning and will stay below 4 feet high.  Here are a few:  Winter Jasmine, Shore Juniper, Dwarf Yaupon, Pyracantha, Dwarf Indian Hawthorn, and Dwarf Abelia.  Large mounding shrubs that get over 4 feet are great for large open slopes include Forsythia, Glossy Abelia, Weigela, Thorny Elaeagnus, Peegee Hydrangea, and Miscanthus Grass.  For shade slopes, consider Azaleas, Hydrangeas and Acuba. 3. Here are some ideas on ground covers to use on slopes in full sun, Liriope, Mondo Grass, Sargent Juniper, Creeping Juniper, Asiatic jasmine.  If planting on a shaded slope, consider  English Ivy, Liriope, Mondo Grass, Hosta, and Ferns. 4. Another great way to address a slope is adding a grove of trees.  Planting large evergreens like Leyland Cypress, Arborvitae, Magnolias or Pine trees can provide screening and low maintenance.  Deciduous trees like Yoshino Cherries, Red Buds and Crape Myrtles are some low growing trees that are also good options. 5. Click here to see some photo ideas of how others have addressed slopes.  This is great site for ideas. The fall and winter months are a great time to plant your slopes and let plants get established for spring growth.  If you are planting shrubs or ground covers, use mulches to hold the soils. Just adding a good natural mulch can be enough to control or help with reducing the erosion.  In natural areas, chopped up leaves work well, and in shrub beds, use pine straw. When you plant your slope, let me know and send a photo. Always planting to grow. Jeff P.S. Are you going green in your yard?  Do you use rain barrels, newspapers, organic fertilizers, or have other ideas you can share?  Email me (jeff@jeffmcmanus.com) and let me know what you are doing to go green, I may use your idea in a future blog post.