Our vegie garden is on a slight slope and has a stacked stone wall at the bottom where the path is. I find that with watering, soil gets washed onto the top of the stones and also onto the path. The area often looks rather messy. It occurred to me that it would be nice to plant small and low shrubs, ground cover or perennials that form a bit of a mat behind the top of the stone wall so that the plants can catch the water and soil. Heather grows really well here in Central Otago and I thought that it would make a nice show all year round and brighten up an area that can look a bit sad in the middle of winter. Could you suggest any plants that would look nice and help hold the soil back? The stone wall and path get a lot of sun in summer but not in winter although a good part of the vegie garden gets sun all year round. I would love to have your suggestions.

Hello Chris! Trailing rosemary is a thought that came to my mind. It gets very matted and is a very good ground cover but may need some trimming occasionally on the side you may not want it to spread. If you Google it and click on images you can get a better idea of how it grows. My sister has it and it looks very attractive in it's spreading form.
Regards,
Dawn.

I'd go with edible herbs to complement the veges, rosemary as above, chives, sage, thyme...

Thank you, Dawn, trailing rosemary is definitely worth considering as it can just cascade down the stone wall. I'll plant that if I can't come up with something else. If I sound a bit a bit hesitant it's just that we've already got lots of rosemary around the house and I'd quite like something else.
Griz, I've got an area set aside for herbs which gets plenty of sun. The stone wall will be a bit dank in winter and herbs wouldn't like that spot although everything a bit above it gets quite a bit of sun and the vegies are doing well. I might have to do a bit of googling and also ask our local nursery for some tips. I'd also thought of ajuga or bergenia perhaps but I could do with a bit of colour in that space over winter.

That's fine Chris! If you have plenty of rosemary in your garden (and I thought you might) you certainly would want a change - well I would! I'm sure a gardening guru here in Foodlovers will be able to give you some good ideas!
Kind regards,
Dawn.

To stop the soil and water flow, some quite close ground huggers sound good, as anything with a main stalk will not really stop the flow.

I like NZ native Coprosma kirkii - there's one called Coprosma kirkii 'Minogue' - as a ground cover. [www.sb.watersavingplants.com] If you (and you should, ideally) trim it regularly, you can create this lovely "green hilly landscape" sort of effect. But it won't give you flowers. It will cascade down your bank though, if you want it to, and it's easy to trim (quite soft).

Another NZ native, the dwarf green flax "Pepe" (Phormium tenax 'Pepe') could give a nice spiky plant look. You could mass plant it and/or mix it with a different effect foliage. [www.pukeraunursery.co.nz] I've had some at my place for years and they definitely stay dwarf. Once again, no flowers though - just green and foliage effect.

Multiple plantings of Liriope muscari? Many with mauve flowers, but you can get white flower ones too.

Osteospermum daisies?

Comfrey? It might disappear a bit much in winter down there?

Felicia amelliodes? (blue daisy - almost perpetual flowering) [www.dinsan.com.au]

The herb thyme is a very good groundcover but I know herbs have been mentioned already.

Miniature agapanthas?

NZ native lily - rengarenga? (would be good for stopping dirt/water once clumped up a bit) [www.mooseyscountrygarden.com]

There's a strong, tall-flower version of catmint (Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low') which paints a beautiful Monet sort of look in your garden when it's in flower and flowing around. [www.earlmay.com]

Lots of lovely suggestions, thanks J1. Now, agapanthus goes slimy in winter because of the frost damage although it comes away again in spring. But in winter it looks awful down here. Comfry suffers the same fate; I keep some in a pot though. The ground would be too wet for cat mint (which I love) because of the need to water the vegie garden in our dry summers. I had thought about cat mint because the colour is so lovely. Too wet for thyme as well in that spot. I grow Felicia in a pot and it dies totally down in winter. The winters here are truly severe and I've lost so many plants that I tried to grow. We retired down here from Auckland and it's been a steep learning curve for me. The coprosma kirkii looks worth exploring. Love the look of it. Something like the Felicia but that does not die down and suffer from frost would be great. Thank you for the links. It might be a good idea for me to contact the garden club. We are bound to have one here. Again, many thanks for the suggestions.

Just one thought - how about something which has brightly-coloured decorative stems or branches such as a berberis hybrid, which loses its leaves in winter anyway.