Best Plants for a Slope

When Tracy first visited her future home on a one-acre site north of Peoria, she saw a treacherous hillside eroded into deep ruts.

The backyard, cultivated only with grasses, descended sharply into near wilderness. Water and gravity had steadily conspired to carry away topsoil and nutrients. Railroad ties barely held the hillside in place.

It all got Tracy's imagination churning--enough to buy the place. A longtime Master Gardener and co-founder of the Midwest Hosta Society, she could see the potential: flowers grown on inclines, ascending like clouds of texture and color to embellish the slope.

Pictured: Nine seasons' growth has transformed Tracy's garden from a rutted hillside to a lush incline.