Hello! I'm quite pleased to have found your site! Our Dayton (Washington Two), cedar/brick, tri-level home sits on quite a steep slope, and especially on one side, we're opting to have a large bed to avoid the somewhat dangerous mowing of that area. The bed in mention will have a kidney bean shape, or something aesthetically curving. The large tree you see in the middle of the bed has a lot of roots exposed above ground. The top pine trees with the 5' bare trunks used to be engulfed in honeysuckle, which we took out. Although they are somewhat wimpy looking, we plan on keeping them to balance out the large pine tree we have on the other side of the house. I was initially thinking of some large ornamental grass that could get up to 6' tall to fill in the gaps of the lowest pine tree branches - or maybe some other type of pine trees, or something to fill that space in height-wise? We're trying to keep costs low, so will not be doing a retainer wall. We have access to some large boulders, which i would love to incorporate, but I'm uncertain if we'll be able to get them transported to us. My thoughts vary from having a variety of ground cover, to a variety of junipers, and am concerned about soil erosion. Some plants I had in mind are Blue Rug Juniper, Creeping Juniper, Creeping Jenny, Creeping Thyme, English Ivy, Hostas, Lirope, and Sedum. My goal is to not have it look too patch-worky with too many different type plants. There are so many options, but do you have any better suggestions? How is it best to stagger these plants? Do you have suggestions on a garden design? I have ideas, but worry they won't be the best. The bed faces the south, gets filtered light in the morning, and spotty, direct sun in the late afternoon/evening. Is it best to lay down a thick black landscape fabric first? What type of soil do I then put on top of the fabric, if used? Lastly, should I put mulch, or will that run off? I also thought of using some smaller landscape rocks, maybe something like river rocks?, towards the bottom of the bed in further hopes of preventing soil erosion. Should I use a plant starter before planting plants? Do you have suggestions on where to purchase my plants in my 45459 zip code area? This large bed is just one of many that need a haul over. Do you have someone that could come out and give us an entire yard, front/back/sides landscape design? If so, what costs are involved? Or, do you have any links that provide garden designs on slopes that list the names of the plants? Thank you SO much in advance for listing to me go on, and on, and on....lol. Gardening is my passion, but there are so many things to consider, and naturally, I want to make wise choices that are functional, look nice, and won't break my bank. Thanks again for any feedback you can share!! Laurie