Ask Jenny: How To Plant a Slope

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Hey friends today on Gardening with Creekside  we are going to continue with the series ask   Jenny this is where you can submit your gardening  questions in the comments below and if I really   think that this would be beneficial to a lot of  people then we will do a whole video on answering  

Your question so that because if one person has  that question then odds are there are a lot of   people so if you have a gardening question put it  in the comments below and then we may choose that  

One to do a video on today what we are going to  talk about is landscaping and planning for a slope   behind me so without further Ado let’s get going  on Facebook Linda submitted this question she said  

Love the idea of ask Jenny segment my question is  for a hillside ground cover the no fuss way I need   to plant heavily to keep my weeds at Bay Jenny any  suggestions and then like I I thought would happen  

Diane underneath said I love this question had the  same slope question but for shade so that is what   we are going to focus on today is how do you plant  and design a slope or a hillside so that you do  

Not have to worry about wash and it will still  be beautiful and attractive in your garden so   we’re going to focus on two areas today that here  at Creek Side because if you’ve been around us I   always say there is nothing flat at Creekside  everything is on a slope or a hill obviously  

Behind me here we have our beautiful uh Cottage  Garden and I me like Jenny it’s you know end of   December it’s not so beautiful no it’s not right  now it has some interest but it is not of course  

In all of its glory and then we’re going to head  over to the nursery because we have um a larger   area very still much a slope that is planted  and so I want to show you that um so you can get  

Get some ideas as well so first of all when you  are looking at a slope you’re going to approach   it really just like you do um any other kind of  flower bed you need to make sure that your sun you  

Know your sun conditions whether is it Linda that  has Sun maybe or Diane that has shade so know your   sun conditions Remember full sun is considered  6 hours or more uh shade is considered 4 hours  

Or less if you’re in that four to six range of  sunshine then that is considered like part sun   part shade both of my flower beds are full sun but  we’re going to talk about shade Gardens as well  

And give you some ideas on some plants for that so  know your your sun conditions and then um you’re   going to want to amend your soil right whenever  you plant these plants the way you typically do so  

If you’ve got some compost you want to top dress  with of course we always recommend you in your   using your biotone start a fertilizer when you’re  planting and then in my Cottage Garden style  

Gardening that we do here I’m going to use annuals  I’m going to use perennials and I am going to use   shrubs we’re going to give you examples of all  of those today here in The Cottage Garden at the  

House they are predominantly perennials perennials  of course come back for two or more years and then   I do supplement with some annuals for some nice  big pops of color and to add in some interest  

When you’re thinking about a slope obviously we’ve  got um to consider that on a slope one end is low   and one end is hot and we’re trying to take up as  maximum amount of space as we possibly can with  

Plants so that we don’t have wash within the bed  that is what was happening to us here at this area   that is why we really kind of Terrace this whole  hill so it really starts up where the chicken Co  

Is so we had the chicken Co then we tered it we  have hydrant Hill where we just have it filled   with hydrangeas we terce again we have our garden  boxes and we come down again and then the final  

Slope is the Cottage Garden when you’re picking  your plants because of being on a slope you don’t   have to think as much about a height difference  typically when we’re looking at a flat Garden  

Space we want our really short plants in the front  and then our taller plants in the back here at the   cottage Garden because it is on a nice slope  I can have plants that reach the same maximum  

Height but because they’re on that slope the ones  in the back are going to be taller than the ones   in the front so you can kind of keep that in mind  so even of course you can put your shorter things  

In the front if you want to I have some beautiful  banana cream too Shasta daisies here in the front   of the bed and then in the back of the bed I have  on each corner I have a um lemon mering baptisia  

That gets you know a good height to it about in  that 3ft Mark so just think of yes you can still   do short to tall from front to back but even if  they are all relatively the same size because  

You’re on a slope you’re going to have a height  difference just because of the elevation we want   to mix colors and textures right we want to think  of plants that probably go wider than tall but not  

Necessarily of course baptisia is more upright but  we do have things in here that take up a lot of   footprint my dayes dayes are an amazing perennial  to put on a slope in a sunny um Garden because  

They will spread like get bigger pretty quickly  right from year to year not an invasive kind of   thing but they just get nice and big and they hold  the soil because when we’re looking at a slope the  

Main goal is to uh prevent us as a gardener having  to walk up in that flower bed and we a lot because   it is on a slope and it can be quite difficult  um and sometimes quite slippery to get into  

That slope depending on how steep it is the more  plants that we put in the garden um especially   your perennials and your shrubs that are there  for years and years then the better off we are  

Going to be so like I said in this bed I have  got dayes I have got shadis I’ve got the babia   I have got neopia red hot pokers love those and  then I supplement in this garden with my annuals  

Especially um I love using patunas by the steps  so each season I will take um each year I will   take patunas and line those steps the past year I  did jazzberry and it was gorgeous because when you  

Have those plants the more plants you put into  the garden the more Roots you have so the less   wash even even in the winter time when you don’t  see a lot of top growth in this flower bed there   are massive root systems running throughout this  Garden here in North Carolina we typically have  

Very wet Winters and we can have heavy downfall of  rain which can cause wash of course on slopes this   bed we have had for about four years four to five  years here and only the very first season when  

My plants were still young did I have some wash  since then zero we just got 4 Ines of rain about   like the other week I mean heavy rainfall not one  little rut not one wash happened in this Garden  

Because of those extensive root systems so my tip  is have fun planting think about your different   Heights and then plant heavily because especially  when you’re using your perennials and your shrubs   those are quote permanent in the flower bed and  those root systems are very extensive water can  

Run over but it’s not going to rut out the garden  because you’ve got these great Roots holding all   of your soil in and then also this has been very  very key for us especially when you have a new  

Flower bed and then you have to do this every you  know year or 18 months is you want to use a really   great mulch nice and thick because we are in the  South a lot of times people will like to use the  

Large pine bark nuggets as a mulch I particularly  do not like that because we are on a slope and   that can wash and move really really well plus it  doesn’t break down as easily to give um turn into  

Compost for your flower beds so whether you have  kids uh you have that slope you have an 85 lb toy   old German Shepherd like I do uh when when they  run through it or you walk on it or big rains come  

That pine bark will slide down your slope we like  to use that hardwood mulch like a double hammered   hardwood mulch would be really good because it  almost it just holds on and it does not wash so  

When you’re using your mulch you can go to your  local Garden Center if they Supply mulch or like   a bulk Landscape Supply Company where you can  get you know you can purchase your mulch tell   them that you’re on a slope and you need this  mulch to stay put they will recommend to you  

Which is the best mulch for that application  so what we’re going to do is we are going to   head over to the Garden Center because I can’t  wait to show you uh this large full sun flower  

Bed that is most definitely on a slope here we  are at the retail Garden Center this flower bed   behind me is definitely on a steep slope this is  the bank that is the back of the garden and then  

Obviously behind us uh we have have lots of Woods  back there to my right this way is the pergola and   of course all of that shopping area we developed  this bed a couple of years ago uh we actually did  

It did a video filmed a video for Laura of garden  answer uh this was uh she was asking some folks   to do some special uh guest appearances and so we  did this area so it’s affectionally called here at  

The Garden Center Lara’s bed so that’s how the  name of this area is Lara’s bed when we filmed   the video for Lara there was absolutely no plants  in here whatsoever and I think as you can see from  

The footage when we were shooting it was nothing  but raw red North Carolina red clay there was Zero   organic matter in that soil very much on a slope  it was very Steep and still is and so what we did  

Uh was just filled it full of various shrubs we  planted this bed in two uh phases shall we we did   the shrubs in the fall and then the following  spring then we came back and added in lots of  

Perennials so in this bed in the back we have  got some jazz hands Laura pedum nice beautiful   evergreen shrubs they’re going to be my bigger  ones we did move them to the back to give some   height in here we have got highres I’ve got three  different panicle hydrangeas through here I’ve got  

A Perfecto Mundo a zelas in here as well another  great evergreen shrub gives me spring flowers   right so then we kind of worked those in there  and then we did also down here at the bottom we  

Did some scentlandia because that is at the bottom  of the hill a lot of times it will be your wetter   area because that’s where the water sheds so with  the stent landia it loves those wet conditions I  

Tend to like I said go more towards a cottage  look right so I have various colors and shapes   and textures that are just kind of there’s not a  formality to it you can absolutely plant a hill in  

A formal U manner if you want to it’s just going  to be the structure and how you lay your plants   out so if you wanted to use boxwoods to outline  the the bed you absolutely could do that box Woods  

Across the bottom would be beautiful or at the top  it really doesn’t matter you could do the sides   you could enclose the whole thing really you’re  only limited by your imagination like I said then   the next spring we came back here with tons of  proven winners perennials so I’ve got summerific  

Hibiscus in here I have got gorgeous manard that  absolutely thrives in this flower bed they have   been very happy and spread and got nice and big  Gorgeous Flowers I have got dayes in here I have   a little bit of everything baptisia you name it I  can’t emphasize this enough when you are planting  

A slope you want to put plants in there whether  they are animals perennials or shrubs or all the   above you’re going to plant heavily obviously  right when we you can do it all at one time if  

You want to or you can do it like we did here and  you can do it in phases as soon as you begin to   put plants in and you get some nice thick mulch  in you are going to be amazed and so excited with  

How your slope is transforming right before your  very eyes now both of the gardens here of course   are going to be um in those Sun conditions we  talked about that Diane has a shade garden so  

What are some ideas of plants that you could use  in your shade garden so you could use boxwoods a   great idea because like Sprinter boxwoods can  do sun or shade there you go nice Evergreen   structure on that Florida Sunshine I love Florida  Sunshine that is a great shrub that is going to  

Be an evergreen nice bright chartreuse color so  it looks beautiful in a Shea garden and it has   that Evergreen color to it you can um do more  shade loving aelas stunning you could do Rota   dendrons right and all of those are going to be  Evergreen obviously this is going to be dependent  

On your zones so if you of course I know Southern  plants because I’m in North Carolina if you’re in   a colder climate kind of take those ideas maybe  you use some ailia maybe use some Lila um and  

Those may be more sun conditions um but think  about you know what are some shade loving shrubs   and incorporate them into the garden I would use  a lot of autumn ferns or ferns in general Autumn   ferns particularly because they are evergreen  so even in the winter time for us I still have  

Structure from my Autumn ferns hbor Linton roses  my gosh that would be gorgeous on a slope right   tuck those in they give you beautiful um l late  winter flowers hostas would be gorgeous right   and they spread as far as like their Mounds just  get bigger and bigger so every year you just get  

Bigger and bigger hostes those would be beautiful  um lamian would be a nice kind of ground cover   the pink shab from Proven Winners it does sun  or shade we sell it as an annual but for us it  

Is a perennial I have it in my shea Garden as a  ground cover and it would be a beautiful addition   because it’s a nice silver and green together so  you could dot that in even in the winter time you  

Would have structure there um let’s see any of  those different ukuras or ukuras either one of   those would be great in a shade garden so you’re  just going to take those plants that you typically  

Would use if your garden was flat and you’re just  going to incorporate them up on a hill when you’re   planting on a slope it really don’t overthink it  y’all right so so you’re going to have a slope you  

Want the back end of your plant not to be buried  by the hill not to be buried underneath the soil   on the slope your front end obviously your roots  going to be a little bit more exposed just bring  

In some soil or some compost and Shore up around  the front of that and then when you bring your   mulch you will have it all nice and spread out  just make sure that you don’t bury the crown of  

The plant whether it’s an annual or perennial or  a shrub with too much mulch and too much um soil   but it really um is not very different planting  on a slope as it is planting on a level or semile  

Level um level spot in your garden right so just  have fun it is late December it is cold it is a   very crisp chilly day here in North Carolina but  that doesn’t mean that that gardening stops right  

Maybe you are going to be covered in tons of snow  right now and for the rest rest of the foreseeable   future or maybe you’re like me and you’re in a  warmer Zone and you can still get out and garden  

But maybe it’s just cold and you just want to stay  snuggled in this is the perfect time to plan your   garden start dreaming start looking start um go  ahead and subscribe to some gardening magazines   my favorite magazines to subscribe to um are  garden gate and fine gardening those are two  

Great great resources that tell you about plants  that are coming out on the market they do lots   of beautiful photos of other people’s Gardens so  that you can look at that they will have you know   articles on Natives and beneficial insects it’s  very informative so those are the two magazines  

That I get that I love Pinterest Pinterest can be  uh a black hole especially just depending on what   your topic is but in gardening absolutely go on  pinest and start looking at ideas so if you have a  

Shade area or a Sun area you can type in um shade  garden on slope right or you could just put in   shade garden and all these pictures are going to  come up just keep in mind that depending on where  

That image comes from you may not be able to find  the exact same plants but that’s the inspiration   look at the colors the textures how they have the  plants laid out and then go to your local Garden  

Center or know kind of get start researching what  plants will grow well in your hardiness Zone so   dream and plan and plant and then depending on  where you are your hardiness Zone uh start early   right when you start the seasons start to change  from Winter into spring then that’s when you want  

To be out there planting those plants especially  for us in the South we’re more concerned about   the heat of the summer than the cold of the winter  as far as like I want to get those plants in the  

Ground and establish before the heat of the  summer hits so we can absolutely maybe we we   take January you know February off beginning  early March is a great time to start putting   those plants in the ground I hope this has been  fun I hope this has been informative I hope it’s  

Been helpful if you have some common gardening  questions or a problem in your your garden that   you want some help with just put them in the  comments below and we will take a look at them  

As always thanks so much for gring with Creekside  y’all have a great day we’ll see you in the next   video bye [Music] friends first of all when you  are looking at a slope you’re going to approach  

It really just like you do um any other kind of  flower bed you need to make sure that your sun you   know your sun conditions whether is it Linda that  has Sun maybe or Diane that has shave so know your  

Sun conditions Remember full sun is considered 6  hours or more uh shade is considered 4 hours or less have fun planting think about your different  Heights and then plant heavily because especially   when you’re using your perennials and your shrubs  those are quote permanent in the flower bed and  

Those root systems are very extensive water  can run over but it’s not going to rut out   the garden because you’ve got these great Roots  holding all of your soil in and then also this   has been very very key for us especially when  you have a new flower bed and then you have  

To do this every you know year or 18 months is  you want to use a really great mulch nice and thick