Our Native Landscape Story (Part 7): Planting The Hillside

This is Part 7 of Our Native Landscape Story.


Each of the posts in this series has showcased sections of our yard and what we've done in each section including before and after photos.

Part 1 and Part 2: Removing Impervious Surfaces
Part 3: Removing Stone Mulch
Part 4: Removing Invasive Species and Smothering Grass
Part 5: Smothering More Grass and Planting Woodland Natives
Part 6: Planting Natives on a Steep Hillside


Part 7 is the area near the top of the hill in our yard and also the sunniest spot. The hill faces southwest. We smothered the grass and have been adding prairie natives. 

The before photo from 2004

We removed the wood on the sides of the steps, smothered the grass with paper and mulch and started planting prairie natives.

Early May just as plants are emerging

August 2008

We relocated some of the taller plants in this photo in 2009 and added more prairie grasses like Little Bluestem, Blue Grama, Side Oats Grama and Indian Grass. It has been overseeded with a shortgrass dry prairie seed mix and we added several new species that we grew from seed. 

We made these changes to replicate the species present in a short grass remnant nearby. I will showcase these new results at the end of the season.

Before 2004

June 2009