Lyn, I let my sister know about this thread - she lives on the sunny side of Washington which sounds similar to your region - cold winters and hot summers. She's a zone or two below us, likely due to her elevation. Hopefully she'll jump in with her experiences.
Siting of plants can really make or break one's affection (or lack of), can't it? I planted a tall mahonia on the north side of our front porch, specifically to discourage people (and little kids) from venturing too close to the edge (I didn't want a railing). That has worked fairly well (it is quite prickly), although it is now pretty mature and rather encroaching.
Most of the plants I referenced in my previous post are in my herb garden, and are perhaps not as well known as flowering perennials.
Good visual of you either (a) tied to your tree, or (b) rolling down the hill. Got a laugh out of that!
Thyme: I've tried numerous varieties of thyme, and have settled into
Red Creeping Thyme (Thymus praecox 'Coccineus') as my go-to thyme. Virtually all the others have either gotten woody and scraggly, or died out in the center. Even the generic cooking thyme
Common Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) only does well for a couple seasons for me. I've had much better luck using
Smooth Rupturewort (Herniaria glabra) for a more reliable and evergreen groundcover.
