Tropical Zone Gardening: What landscaping to use for a side bank?, 1 by JPlunket

JPlunket wrote:
It's a good spot for the firecrackers. They shoot way out and have great color and texture --they also spread pretty well, which you can encourage by pinning low branches to the ground on cultivated soil.

I like allamandras --we're training them around our outside shower (see pic). They tend to do better with something to wrap around or hold onto, like a trellis or a wall, although they can also be trained into a low hedge over time without support.

That said, allamandras are not a good ground cover per se --rather sparse foliage, linear growth habit and hedging them takes lots of time and effort.

Also think about aroids, asparagus fern, foxtail fern, dracaena, and other plants that really fill a spot, provide some color and/or texture.

You could also consider a short-term / long-term approach. Stage 1, plant cheap, low ground cover plants, but add a top row of ficus grandifolia or similar hedge plant. Stage 2 is then self-executing: the long-leaf ficus will tend to grow up (trim to any height desired relative to the lawn) as well as to fill in down the slope, dropping their interesting air roots, to create a beautiful hedge for the yard up top, and a very intriguing look for the slope over time. You can pull out the other plants to put elsewhere as the ficus fills in.