I'm in extreme southern middle TN so I wouldn't know any nurseries up that way but I do want to tell you about a nice evergreen I have. In 2006-7 I was always drawn to the blue/green evergreens I was seeing in this area. They usually are grouped and were so wispy and pretty. I asked around at some local nurseries and came up with Arizona Cypress; who happen to love our growing conditions and laugh at drought. (hence Arizona as part of their name??) Anyway do a internet search for pictures. I love mine. I planted it during the hot summer of 2007 and it has done well..dirt is dry and rocky with no special treatment. It has flourished. I hope to decorate it with some lights someday. I won't pay a lot of $ for plants, I think this one was about $12 for a one gallon pot. I don't really remember...it may have been a 2 gallon but no mor than that cause I don't like digging big holes. Oh and welcome to "God's country." Sometimes its drought and flood of biblical proportions but I love it just the same! Welcome!
Jen

That Arizona Cypress sounds perfect. I just wish it was green instead of the blue color. I hope some of the other people on the site can give some other ideas and information.
~Katie

Still hoping for help with my original posting above. Please. Also, need ideas for something to help keep the bluff behind my house from eroding. Other than ivy or kudzu, has anyone had any experience.

Not sure what you are calling a bluff? If you have shade there you might want to try Vinca minor. Beautiful blue blooms in the spring, and evergreen. It can handle the worst droughts. I like "Bowles". I just transplanted some last week. You might throw in some yellow daylillies. Hyperion is still my favorite. http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=43400&PrevMainPage=gatepage&scChannel=Gate%20PkDaylily&SearchText=p13.Hemerocallis&OfferCode=W1H

I lived in the Chattanooga area for 30 yrs, and my experience was that nearly all shrubs and trees will do much better if planted in the fall or early winter. Yep, it is the heat in July and August that is your enemy. Many of the pines will work for your yard.

Here is a link that might be useful: vinca Bowles variety

Vinca minor is a Rank 2 (significant threat) invasive! The Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council recommends controlling and managing (completely eliminating where possible) all Rank 1 and Rank 2 category species in the early stages of detection.

I'm not familiar with which nurseries are best in the Chattanooga area, but I'll tell you about a few on this side of Chattanooga. One of my favorites here in Knoxville is Beaver Creek Nursery (www.beavercreeknursery.net). They specialize in uncommon types of trees, shrubs, and perennials. They mostly sell smaller specimens, but smaller trees and shrubs can often catch up to and surpass larger specimens within a few years. Smaller trees and shrubs are also less expensive and can be easier to take care of until they get established.

Another neat nursery closer to Chattanooga is Ponds and Plants (www.pondsnplants.com) in Dayton. They have a good selection of plants and an impressive selection of Cryptomeria japonica. When I was there a year or so ago, they probably had at least 20 different cultivars.

I buy more plants from mail-order nurseries than I do from local nurseries. It's often easier to find unusual and hard-to-find things by shopping online. If you find an interesting site online, always check them out on Garden Watchdog before sending them money! Lots and lots of disappointment can be avoided that way. If a mail-order nursery is not listed on Garden Watchdog, it's either extremely small or a scam (like TyTy).

Give us some more information on your "bluff". I have an area behind the house too steep to stand on. It's not viewable from the road or anything, and before I covered it, it was just a real unmanageable mess. I solved the problem by covering it with a heavy grade landscape fabric (like commonly seen on floors in commercial greenhouses). I used galvanized staples so that they would last as long as the fabric. I expect to get at least 15 years out of the fabric before having to worry about replacing it. It's not pretty, but I don't have to look at it or worry about it, and my bank is now trouble-free.

Here is a link that might be useful: TN-EPPC Invasive Plant List

Hey, thanks for the responses. The "bluff" is a sheer drop from the edge of my back yard at about an 75 degree angle. Hard to climb but you can. Part of it drops down about 10 feet almost straight down or 80 degrees forming a land ledge of about 10 feet wide and 20 feet along the edge. Then there is another drop down of about 90 degrees about 20 feet to the bottom. The other 1/2 of the back yard is where the 80 degrees comes in and it drops down about 30 feet with no ledge there at all. This is about 30 feet along the edge.

I think we will try to plant some of the creeping junipers and/or put some of the rolled up straw and try to get some grasses growing on there also. This area faces east so it is shady all day long. I don't think the daylillies will work because of that, though it would be gorgeous.

Our neighbors poured some rock down their "bluff" to try to stablize it and the last heavy rains we've had over the last couple of weeks caused a mini land slide. We kind of think that it was because of the rocks they added and that they were just too heavy. Their bluff is steeper than ours. I think it would be impossible to climb up it and that it is about a straight 90 degree angle.

If anyone thinks we are making a big mistake doing this, please let us know. Since we haven't even moved in yet and have to do that before starting working on the bluff, planting this stuff will have to wait at least until March. It has been stable for 3 years or so since the house was built with the only problem being the neighbors mini-land-slide which we attribute to the rocks they added.

We found a wonderful nursery on Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe I think. Still not too sure of the area. They are a pretty large place and seem to be a Mom & Pop place. They offer a 2 year guarantee normally, but a 3 year guarantee if you use their plant food and soil to plant it. We got a beautiful little 4 foot tree named California Christmas Tree to plant in the front yard. It has medium length needles in clusters like a pine, but has a droopy, slightly weepy effect. I hope it will do well. I did see some of the ones recommended above and they were very, very light bluish green, so I hope this one will work. I hope TNTom is right about the pines doing good here.

brandon7 and tntom, I gave you the info about the bluff and looking forward to your input. I've found some answers but look forward to what you have to say as well. Thanks!

My answer might not be everyone's idea of the best solution, but I would do one of three things. The simplest, is the one I described above, covering it with a heavy grade landscape fabric. Another similar but more expensive idea is covering it with astroturf, and yes I'm serious. Both of these ideas could be used on the steep parts and you could use the ledge area for more gardening space if you wanted. The final, and probably the far more labor intensive/costly solution is to have the area terraced using landscape block retaining walls. This third idea would maximize your gardening area and could be quite attractive. All of these ideas would stabilize the area fairly well and would eliminate the need to weed and maintain this area that seems like it would be a nightmare to maintain.

One more solution, which might or might not work depending on the surrounding area, is to grade down the slopes so that there is a much more gentle slope. This would probably require you to give up some of your yard, but maybe it would be worth it?

Gee, What you are describing is a very steep slope. 90 degrees? That would normally be a rock outcrop. Is it possible for you to post several pictures? Am I corect in that the land is not very visible from your home as it falls away steeply? Is this soil that has either been cut or filled?
I like Brandon's idea about grading the yard which might cause you to either gain more yard albeit on a steeper slope or lose some of your presently usuable yard, but lessen the slope of your "bluff". This option could run into quite an expense though. I formally owned an earth moving company, and I can tell you that it is difficult to make suggestions without actually seeing your land.
That being said, you might help the land to go back to native maples, oaks, redbuds, dogwoods, etc. by planting small trees and a ground over(possibly a fescue/rye mix)that would help hold the soil until the the trees took over. Beaty hardware in Cleveland, TN sells quite a bit of grass seed for erosion control on TDOT jobs. The mix will vary according to the time of year your are planting. If you are going to have an erosion problem you will probably find out today (2"-3" of rain expected in Chattanooga). If you have gullies washing you might want to pipe the water down the hill or divert it to flaten it out thereby slowing it down. Just impossible to tell without seeing the site, and knowing if this is an area that can be made usuable at a reasonable cost.

Welcome to the hills of E TN(N GA in your case). Most of our flat land was claimed years ago.

Katie, I believe that the "California Christmas Tree" is a type of Deodar Cedar and very nice. All of the true cedars are very nice specimens and are becoming quite popular here in Knoxville (Deodar and Atlas are the most popular). If you are looking for something not blue that is more columnar, I would go with the Cryptomeria (Japanese Incense Cedar). Honestly, I don't know how much longer hemlocks (wooly adelgid) and spruce (except Colorado blue, which seems fairly drought and heat tolerant) will be a good option in TN. I see dead skeletons alot here in Knoxville. The "short leafed pines" you see here are probably Virginia, shortleaf, and maybe loblolly, though it has somewhat longer needles. The first two seem scarce in the nursery industry, but loblolly is still a popular pine for windbreaks and privacy.

Well, we drove down and looked late yesterday when it was pouring down and there was water over many roads and gullys washing everywhere and as far as we could see there were no waterfalls coming down, but we can only get about 100 yards away from the back on a road where we are looking through trees to see the back of the houses and yards on our street. This neighborhood is on a hill (which looks like a mountain to me, LOL), and we've talked to the builder about it. He said they cut down to hard surface and dumped that top part off on the side. Even though its only been since '05 we cannot see it and it looks like that dirt has already been taken over with vegetation and leaves.

It would be hard to take a picture that could show the steepness, but I'll see what I can do as soon as I can. Remember we are moving right now as I type.

With all the good advice we have gotten, as we can, we have decided to start out putting some landscaping fabric down and putting in the creeping junipers through holes in it. I'm thinking to make a small X and put the plants there instead of a round hole. We will also plant some wildflowers because my experience with those has been that they are hardy even in the winter time under the trees. I've already found a green, live trillium on the top part of the level area that is down about 10 feet!

I appreciate the info on the evergreens. I hope the California Christmas Tree will do well. It is very pretty so far. Wish I could get another one for the other side of the yard!

THANK ALL OF YOU or should I say THANK Y'ALL!!

Katie,

If you use landscape fabric, there are two important things you should remember:

Be sure it's the long-lasting type like they use on greenhouse floors. If not it probably won't last more than about a year (if that long). You definitely don't want to have to do this over anytime soon. Also, use galvanized staples so that they don't rust out quickly. I found my staples in the Gardener's Supply Company catalog.

Any holes made in the fabric will allow weeds to grow. Even around the base of your junipers and where each staple is inserted. If maintained, this problem will most likely remain very minor. I only have to check mine and pull weeds about two or three times a year. It only takes a few minutes for the entire bank. BUT, if I let it go for a few years, I would have an absolute disaster on my hands. The fabric will eliminate almost all weeds, but if you let any get established, WATCH OUT!