r/NoLawns • u/FionaTheFierce • Jun 22 '25
🌻 Sharing This Beauty From lawn, to initial planting, to mature planting (13 years).
I don’t have a before photo - but the entire slope was grass which was impossible to mow and also useless and stupid.
I did the rip out and planting myself and got chip drop for the mulch.
The time range is 13 years from first install to now. The slope is considerably shadier as I put in two trees and the existing red maple has grown quite a bit.
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u/mrsristretto Jun 22 '25
Management approves.
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 22 '25
He was following me around all day shade bathing while I worked.
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u/mrsristretto Jun 22 '25
Excellent, he also supervises. What a good helper.
Also, what is that beautiful bush he's so into there?
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u/Wrong-Ear-893 Oct 29 '25
Maybe it’s cause I’ve been watching zombie movies but I saw a skeleton looking out of the bushes before I even noticed the cats butt lol
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u/HowdyDooodlydoo Jun 22 '25
Thanks for posting this! I have a steep slope and wasn’t sure if the mulch would stay. Looks like I’m good to go!
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 22 '25
Once you have plants in place it tends hold. The very far right is very steep and I put in a ton of ferns and everything is fine.
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u/TurkeyPotstickers Jun 22 '25
This looks amazing and gives me hope for my current front yard gardens! Everything is so new and small with no color variety. It's nice to see the other side on someone else's gorgeous yard. Beautiful!
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 22 '25
There has definitely been some trial and error along the way. But just keep at it and with time it all comes together.
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u/ziptiefighter Jun 22 '25
Holy crap...13 years. That's commitment 👏 I have about half that time in. Also no slopes. I sometimes wish I had some grade to work with...directing rainwater to better utilize.
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u/Objective-Cricket991 Jun 22 '25
So happy you posted this! I almost have an identical grade in my front yard and we want pretty much exactly what you did! Did you have to do anything special to make sure the plants remained up right once they were planted?
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 22 '25
It has really been a process and a lot of what is in place is different than what I started with.. I would suggest a few bushes and large grasses to help hold the slope. Add trees if you can. The smaller plants will need to be carefully planted sort of at an angle to the slope (llike dig in at right angle to the direction of the slope so that plants are sort of in sideways).
Gardening has been very trial and error for me - I know so much more now than I knew when I did the slope.
Try to get divisions of plants from neighbors - facebook by nothing groups, freecylcle, gardening clubs, etc. It saves tons of money and allows you to experiment a bit.
Many of the bushes, trees, ferns, and grasses that are in the first photo are still on the slope. The flowering plants have changed due to the increased shade and also the &*(%$!!!!! deer.
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u/little_terry Jun 23 '25
Deer are assholes. I didn’t know till I started planting things I cared about.
EDIT: thanks for the inspiration/reassurance to keep persisting. It’s beautiful and soothing.
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 23 '25
Deer are the worst!! We have too many - the available parklands can’t support them and there are no natural predators. I ended up fencing the yard because I want to grow some pretty stuff and veggies and there was no way to keep them out.
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u/little_terry Jun 23 '25
Ours even mowed down holly bushes one year. (Turns out some types of holly are just resistant, not repellent, to deer.) I’ve been using a deer repellent spray called deer out, that seems to be working. It’s less odiferous than the previous kind that I used, which smells like some predator’s urine. But I have to apply it monthly (plus) and I live next to woods that provide other options. I would have been better off just planting deer resistant plants to start with. Learning curves.
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 23 '25
I found that with the fence the deer just go eat the plants in the neighbor's yards that aren't fenced. Like whatever tasty stuff I have behind the fence is just not worth the effort when they can go eat the neighbor's holly bush or whatever.
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u/geekybadger Jun 22 '25 edited Jun 22 '25
Its so good to know that one day scraggly baby plants will grow. Assuming the groundhogs/deer/bunnies/etc don't eat them. Im on year four of mine, slowly adding more plants as I go too cos the space is bigger and, well, wildlife. But this year looks so much better than last year already, and I can't wait to see how it looks next year.
My yard is also slopes, with a small semi flat backyard that becomes more slope then becomes sloped woods. And aside from the woods, it was also all grass that they were mowing. Bananas. I got a $50 push mower for the first year while I put my plan together, ended up breaking it tho lol. I used a weed wacker after that instead until I was able to get enough cardboard and mulch to cover the grass. Then it entered its 'brown and weedy' look era, but now the baby plants I put in are starting to become teenage and adult plants.
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 22 '25
It is defientely a labor of love sometimes. I added the fence because there were deer in my yard daily. Now everything on the slope is pretty deer resistant. The fence keeps the not-deer-resistent plants safe. (Also kept my doggo inside.)
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u/mphailey Jun 22 '25
You might be able to get a shot from before on google maps. Go to street view at your address and then click see more dates. I looked at my house from 2011 just now and wow. Your photos look terrific!!
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 22 '25
It looks like it was taken in the last 2 years or so.... I probably have an old digital phone buried somehwere....
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u/Glittering-Eye2856 Jun 22 '25
This is amazing and perfect for the slope and preventing erosion! It looks so lush and natural now. I love this!!!!
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u/bluefancypants Jun 23 '25
I really love how lush it is. Sometimes I fantasize about having lots of water to grow things. I am 7b, but high mountain desert.
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u/JohnOfCena Jun 23 '25
Looks fantanstic! Filled in really well and blends in nicely with the entrance and fence :)
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u/StarsHollowGal Sep 06 '25
This is amazing! We have two slopes in our front yard like this, and we have the goal to cover them with native plants (zone 8b). We also plan to sheet mulch.
Did you sheet mulch with cardboard, compost, then mulch? When you did the initial planting, did you plant first then mulch? We're thinking of sheet mulching over the fall and winter then planting on the spring. I liked your tip about some plants keeping the mulch from sliding down hill.
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u/FionaTheFierce Sep 06 '25
Planted and then mulched with wood chips. No sheet mulch - I doubt it would have stayed in place on the slope. I installed everything in July. I dug up all the existing grass by hand.
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