The little lake we live on was probably formed by a retreating glacier centuries ago. As it swept down the hillside, it left a trail of massive boulders in its wake. We had a couple of danger trees that were threatening the buildings - The biggest fir tree had been draped over our power lines for years and its roots had heaved up our water lines three times. Finally, we had to deal with it. When it came down, we removed the stump, which exposed several huge rocks. Ron placed them along the bank for me so I could landscape using the rocks to hold the hillside and make little plateaus for plants.
As you can see, my work was cut out for me. I bought nearly $100 worth of plants at Home Depot and you could barely see the results. Then I moved a bunch of iris from existing flower beds, but there was still a lot of bare ground.
Then I discovered that most of the 25 to 30 year old Rhododendron plants had rooted new plants where branches draped down and touched the ground. Using my big loppers and a shovel, I was able to find a couple of dozen good plants. Along with ferns from the woods the bank is now looking a lot better. I have some wildflower seeds to scatter and if they grow, the bank should look great by mid July. It's been wonderful having warm temperatures and full sun for working on this project.
