we went away again to wait for autumn and ground to soften up!
We returned in early November & strimmed where the grass is to stay and dug over and removed weeds where flowering perennials and annuals are going to be planted.
We have shaped the hill slightly..(or emphasied the shape it had already settled into :)) to allow for a grass path over as well as around...thus being described as the telly tubby hill more and more but better that than the 'fosse pile' ;D
In this visit we cleared the bed along the deck and planted with a range of sun loving, tall, robust and colourful perennials to get the 'flowering view' started as soon as possible.
The verbena bonariensis, echinacea, leucantheum, hemerocalis etc. should flower in their first year and survive will little or no watering or maintenance, except for a chop back at the end of the season.
The 'hill' is now ready and waiting for a spring planting of many small perennials, mostly varied colour achilleas, grasses, verbena bonariensis to help create a dense mass of naturalistic planting to flower through out the summer and beyond.