Photo 1 (before): This suburban backyard slope was filled with invasive species, including buckthorn, lily of the valley, white mulberry, common burdock, garlic mustard, vinca minor, and wintercreeper. This hill handles lots of rainfall coming off the adjacent house, and in addition to being invasive the existing plants were not doing enough to dissipate and slow the rush of water during heavy rainfalls. The homeowners estimated that this hill had eroded at least a couple feet over 35 years.
Photo 2 (mid-project): The invasive species have been removed. We’ve also begun to install river birch logs the homeowners had on-site to slow the flow of water down the hill. These will do the job while the plants we install get established. After that, they’ll provide valuable habitat for beneficial invertebrates and break down to nourish the soil.
Photos 3-5 (after): The slope is newly filled with spreading native plants that can pull off the combination of erosion control and shade tolerance this site demands. A low-growing, relatively simple plant palette (compared to a wild woodland area) lends the space a clear, open woodland feel by looking lush while accentuating the striking tree trunks. Planting as many species as one would find in a wild woods would have felt cluttered and maybe even claustrophobic on this site. Since these plants are natives grown from seed, there is still a lot of biodiversity in this planting!