Google "Earth Kind" roses - there are universities in various places that have tested roses with nothing - no spraying, no food, and no additional water after the first year. The Earth Kind roses are the ones that did well with that. After you find that list, I would look each one up to see if it is low enough for your purposes. Remember, even those roses will need water to get established for the first summer or two. Jackie

Actually, we dumped the sand right on top of the clay about 3" deep more or less, some places are much deeper. We covered it all in river rock gravel with larger round rocks lining the edges. When I dug a hole I'd scrape away the gravel & use a $1.99 bag of top soil to mix in each time I planted special things, I got about two to three plants per bag. I've built it up and added plants so gradually, it wasn't that hard to do. For grasses, I just dug down and mixed the base clay and sand by turning it over a few times. The sand was very cheap, a dump truck load doesn't cost much but buying bags of play sand or concrete sand at Home Depot is expensive. The volunteer plants just come up and root through the sand down to the cruddy soil below. Water soaks in real fast and it stays moist longer and its easy to edit since the plants dig and pull right out of it with clean roots practically. Its real easy to work in. I have read in many places this is a bad practice but its worked like a charm here for growing native plants. My clay isn't the kind thats sticky, its hard dirt thats heavy in clay content but the gradual downhill slope makes the drainage not an issue. I guess you could call this the Cheap Lazy Man's Method. Its hard to tell but that slope in the photo looks steeper so anything added on top looks like it might run right off.

Might want to try Rus aromatica 'Gro-low' (selection of native sumac). It stays a couple of feet high at most but spreads well. Leaves are small, shiny, dark green; fall color is a nice red. I have a patch in my native corner, and it has filled in very nicely without any care except in the first year. Another possibility is northern sea oats. You are welcome to come dig some out of my garden, they spread prolifically and deer don't eat them. Nice seed heads in fall, strong root systems.

Thanks Lois, don, dmid, and peggy hosta! Now that I see your pictures again, don, I remember your fabulous hill and love yours, too, dmid! I think I will dig in some rocks peggy. Good idea. I am so pleased. I can't wait to get the hosta in. Now, what to do with all those little pots of liriope and mungo grass...lol.