steep bank, new dirt

We have bulldozed around our house so we have 3 sides that are fresh dirt. I need ideas on overall landscaping. The first area I am going to do is a steep bank behind our house that has little or no shade. I will not be mowing it, it is to steep for me and at the end of the bank is our fence to the pasture. The bank is approx 15 ft high and 40 feet long. I need something that will grow fairly fast, not tall (it will block the view of the pasture). I live in KY so the temp is between 20 to 100 degrees with sometimes 2 months of no rain. I am looking into Strawberry "Fragaria Virginiana" and Burgandy Glow "AJUGA reptans". Any suggestions. Can get pics if you need them.

We have something here in California called Red Apple. Its a kind of succulent growndcover, but survives short hard frosts, too. It spreads fairly quickly, and stands about 6 inches off the ground. It might be a start?

Latin name on that one is Aptenia cordifolia. It won't survive KY winters though but if it grows quick in one season maybe it could help stabilize the hill until other things grow in (it's listed as either zone 8 or zone 10 depending on which PF entry you want to trust, but either way KY is zone 6 or 7). The strawberry should work fine, on the Ajuga if it's full sun I'm not sure about it--I've never grown it so I don't have any personal experience, but PF lists it as sun to part shade and often that means if you live in a hot climate it's going to need a little shade at least during the hottest part of the day, so if this is full blazing sun all day long you may find it gets a bit crispy looking if you have some hot weather.

I don't think it will spread quickly enough to help, then.
I lived in Michigan and Missouri a couple of different times-I almost miss those cold snowy months. I remember in one college town they actually made huge snow sculptures-a train engine, castle, huge things they painted. That was the year we lived in an old two story, and the icicles (sp?) went from the roof to the ground, at least 15 ft. You didn't slam the door during a thaw :>) Pretty, but still-my relatively warm wet springs and cool falls are a nice trade!

Thanks for you replies, that marks AJUGA out. Someone has also suggested Blue Rug Juniper and Grow Low Sumac. Any suggestions.

Go with wild flowers or prairie grasses that grow in your area. I have a south facing hill and if I don't water fairly often some things fry. Mostly have a hard time getting young plants started. JUst glad we don't have huge droughts or I'd be replanting half the hill.

A lot of the lower growing plants are mother of thyme. Spreads fast. You can start from seed or plugs and in 3 years it should just about be covered.

SJ, what about Pachysandra? I don't have any YET but it is supposedly pretty carefee once it's established and spreads fairly quickly.

Doug

Maybe a little too carefree! LOL Some people have trouble with it spreading out of control.

Is the Pachysandra for partial to full shade? This area is full sun.

I researched some Asiatic jasmine as ground cover. I planted some in full sun about a month ago and it is thriving. Don't know what will happen this winter. Our winters are nothing like yours I'm sure.

According to Plant Files it can grow in a range of conditions sunny or shady, I'm not sure what it would think of tons of PM sun in a hot climate though.

Asian jasmine holds up extremely well in Texas summers, even in full sun, once it's established, and few areas have more prolonged hot weather than Central and South Texas. Its runners don't take root, so plants have to be placed fairly close for good coverage.

Ajugas will not take sun. I believe that has already been pointed out. They are wonderful in shade.

Sorry--didn't notice the Asian jasmine post when I made my last one, I was talking about the pachysandra tolerating a range of sun/shade. I don't think Asian jasmine will be hardy in KY, it's only listed to 7a and I would think for a groundcover you'd want something that would be reliably hardy.

Thank you, ecrane3. I was responding to the message from the member in So. Carolina, not KY. The member had mentioned not knowing what to expect this winter. I should have added that here in Zone 8a Asian jasmine may get some winter burn one year out of ten, but I have never seen it killed. I hope I didn't confuse the issue.

I don't think there's any confusion--I just wanted to make sure SJ knew that the Asian jasmine probably wasn't going to be an option for KY, nobody had mentioned that yet.