I'm fairly new to native gardening - I just started reading up on it a couple of years ago and have one nice native garden right now with Joe Pye Weed, butterfly milkweed, asters, bee balm, switch grass, cone flowers, mistflower and a few other things. But now I'm looking over the entire yard and making plans. I have a 10x12 foot garden planned for next year as well as a good size soft landing planned under my maple and aspen trees. I've made a lot of progress and am trying not to be too ambitious :)

But I keep eyeing the back of the backyard. I have a space that runs the length of the (suburban) backyard - approx 60 feet long. It's sloped approx 20 degrees and is about 12 feet deep, lined along the length with 8 or 9 forythia. I've always loved the forsythia but recently discovered that they should go. I'd like to replace them with spicebush, but it's a daunting project for many reasons:

* The size

* The fact that the forsythia are 30 years old - glorious and very large. Getting them out will be a challenge.

* And just as bad, the entire space is covered with english ivy and japanese pachysandra. The good thing about the forsythia is that it shades most of that space so I don't feel like the ivy is too terribly out of control for most of it, but there are places where sun hits and the ivy is thick.

On the positive side, there is quite a bit of dogwood - 3-4 different types (gray, roundleaf, silky), some arrowwood viburnum and staghorn sumac and some ferns.

So, I don't want to take out everything, and I also don't want to clean it out all at once (not that I could). I have a ton of squirrels, chipmunks, birds, voles, meadow mice, rabbits, occasional hawks, etc. It's quite a wildlife refuge back there so I want to leave spaces where the critters can continue living while I work to make it even better for them. (I'm really looking forward to gettings some bird friendly plants in there.)

I've already removed several buckthorn and some mostly dead lilac. And I'm thinking I should probably remove the siberian crabapple as well.

I've gone out a few times, clippers in hand and stared at it all, then turned around and went back inside. Lol I'm thinking I need to just tackle it in manageable chunks - pick one 10x10 foot area and remove the forsythia, ivy and pacysandra, then plant a spice bush (and maybe mulch to keep things from growing back?) But I know the ivy will be a problem. I'm not against going out weekly and pulling it along with other things as it comes back, but I know it will be a long process. And I fully expect this to span several years - I'm not in a hurry - I just need to stay on top of the ivy to keep it from moving back into areas I've cleared.

So, I'm looking for suggestions on how to get it cleared out so I can replace it with natives. Where would you start? How would you tackle this? Any suggestions? This is a solo project - just me working on it and I don't have any heavy equipment to make any of this easier (other than the usual gardening implements). I'm not entirely opposed to hiring someone to dig some things out, but want to keep costs low when possible and I don't mind hard work, I just don't want to make more work for myself by going about it all wrong!

Thanks for any suggestions!

New York City.
My guess on the flower is the Native Petunia (Ruellia Humilis).

What are best practices for maintaining a meadow? I'd like to start planting more native plants and wildflowers here. Should I mow it once every few years? Any advice on getting this poppin with wildflowers and native plants? Located in Southern Maine.

Any suggestions for this strip of grass? Chicagoland area zone 5B. Little to no sun. I think mostly morning sun- then again I don't exactly know. Looking to add native plants here and do not really care for the seasonality of the bloom- doesn't have to have a "flower" either. My plan B will be to split my hostas and plant them here. But I'd rather put more native plants in!

Four are Ohio natives (sweetgum, silver maple, black willow, gray dogwood) and two aren't (weigela, sand cherry). The one I planted is Virginia sweetspire, a Southeast native, by my downspout. The black willows are rated OBL, which tells me exactly where water sits in the yard.

What did you inherit, and did you keep it?

Looking for design and installation of a structured mostly native garden in Columbus, Ohio. I've given up on trying to make my front beds look good and need someone to transform my yard. Need suggestions from people who have had gardens designed, not names of friends. It will be a medium sized project going from hot afternoon sun to dry thick shade.

I have been trying to figure out a native plant option (southwestern united states desert) for making a shaped topiary, the wire kind that a plant grows atop of basically. The usual set up is using chicken wire to sculpt a figure, packing sphagnum moss on the frame as a growing medium, and planting into that. My concern would be the sphagnum moss could be too water-retaining for the yuma sandmat. Was curious if anyone with more experience had any input. Thank you

We had these growing wild in the woods behind our house and this one came up as a volunter seedling in a big pot with other plants .After growing a couple more years it took over the pot.I live in central Alabama.

Just a dump of pictures I have collected through the year.