Sorry I am so late coming to your site - you are an inspiration to all, homeowners and advisers alike. For your planting advice, I suggest you call Merrifield Garden Center to see if they will come out your way. They currently have wonderful garden centers in Merrifield and Fairfax (both in Fairfax County) and a new one in Gainesville, but they may come further south to wherever you reside. (www.MerrifieldGardenCenter.com) Even if they don't send designers to your area, they are worth a trip to see their huge selection for a day of pleasure and inspiration, or to pick up some plants. Most of my clients are in the Fairfax and greater Washington area, but I am currently living out west below Front Royal, VA on the Shenandoah mountainside - wonderful views. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

We went away from standard way. The patio builder had never built what we wanted before, but he did a fantastic job, and he thought it was great too and took photos to add to his portfolio. The roof of the patio is skillion style that is canter levered over the gutter and slopes away from the house. I don't have any photos and it is dark now. I will take some tomorrow if you are interested. I think it is very cool and a bit different. The gaps are in- filled with polycarbonate. We have just had a severe storm...patio clean and dry. It has actually given us an extra room for prob 9 months of the year.

Thanks for the replies! My wife suggested we talk to a local real estate agent, so i think that is a good idea... just that Im not sure how helpful they are likely to be if we arent selling yet :) As for saving for our dream house, I dont disagree, however if doing this up nicely over the next ~5 years or so while we live here nets us some extra in the eventual sale, then that of course will help us as well. Interesting thing happened today actually. I got a knock on the door and one of the older neighbours asked if he could take some lemons from the tree. I of course said yes. Anyway he was telling me he had lived in the street for 40 years. I asked him if the house had always looked like this, and he said no that ~30 years ago the old old owner did a massive renovation and pulled off the timber and put up the bricks and gutted the inside of the house. Interesting stuff!

You want very easy care so you won't have to be weeding, pruning, watering and feeding because it is hard work on a steep bank like that. Along the bottom edge, I'd plant a few soft, smaller plants that won't require trimming back and are OK to brush against. Many natives are great for tolerating poor soil and not needing to be nurtured or fussed over. Clumps of hardy grasses - enough of each to make an impact, say groups of 5-7 minimum. Perhaps red tussocks (Chionocloa rubra) for their bronze tints, and Silver tussock (Carex comans) for their graceful light green fronds, and Chionochloa conspicua, which is very pretty in flower, (like a miniature toetoe.) Mix in NZ iris like Libertia perigrinans for its bright orange spear like leaves and it will tolerate clay well. Marlborough rock daisy if it is a dry area. A little further back put in that lavender, smaller hebes for flower and scent, and possibly some of the many miniature flaxes which come in a range of colours. There are a few spreading prostrate coprosmas that are great in areas like this too. If you don't like the bronze rambler but it is growing well, think of it as the background to set off something that you like, so perhaps a spiky silvery plant like an astelia will contrast with it and be a feature, or a little bright green hebe, with white flowers would contrast nicely. Behind those, put the feijoas, full size flaxes, corokias, the larger hebes, pittosporums, and coprosmas.