Creative Hillside Landscaping Solutions: 12 Best Groundcover Plant Options for Sloped Yards & Hills

It can be pain in the neck to mow and maintain grass on a steep slope. Many homeowners think of landscaping solutions like retaining walls or boulder outcroppings to manage these steep hilly areas, but establishing a dense groundcover plantings on a hillside can be another great option to consider as well.

The idea, is that tightly spaced plantings can cover the entire slope with a dense planting that doesn’t need to be mowed. Groundcover plantings have a natural look and require little to no maintenance, other than occasional weeding to maintain.

Retaining walls and boulders work great for landscaping hills, but you’re looking something a little different and more natural looking perhaps, consider working with a MN landscape design company to come up an with an interesting groundcover planting design solution for your hill. In addition to looking great, establishing groundcover plantings can also be very a cost-effective landscaping option for hillsides.x

What are Groundcover Plantings & How Can They Be Useful on Hills?

Groundcovers are typical planted in large groupings, often referred to as mass plantings. These plantings can completely fill in a garden space or slope and “cover the ground,” overtime. These mass plantings help prevent soil and mulch erosion, because of their dense stem and root growth habits.

A key reason that we like groundcover plantings in particular for hills vs. typical plantings with gaps between plants, is that groundcovers are meant to fill in so densely that there is no need to add mulch between the plants once they fill in. For this reason, groundcover plants are considered lower maintenance. Not needing to re-mulch your hillside garden saves time, money and energy cleaning up mulch that tends to wash down the hills during heavy rains.

There are numerous options to choose from when it comes to selecting a great ground cover plant for your hillside and this article will discuss 12 excellent groundcover planting options to consider. When planning out a groundcover design and installation project, we will start by examining options based on the intended look/style, light conditions (how much sun exposure) and the amount of slope within each area of the yard. Slopes, hills, or changes in elevation will present different challenges compared to level ground; These include, erosion control, drainage options, and usage of the area. Although not required, we also often incorporate boulders to mix in texture within a ground-cover plantings in our landscape designs.

The benefits of using a groundcover are numerous, they provide a stabilizing element to the landscape and cutting down on erosion, they proved a vibrant look to any yard, and they proved a great alternative to installing more expensive hardscapes to your landscaping. Interested in other eco-friendly and low maintenance lawn solutions? Check out our blog on Low Mow and Bee Friendly Lawn Ideas .

12 Excellent Groundcover Plant Type Options to Consider

List of Services

How many Plants will I Need to Fill in Your Garden Space or Hill?

Follow this link to an easy-to-use plant spacing calculator that will help you to quickly find out how many plants you will need to cover your hill any other garden space!

After reading this guide, let us know if you would like to have one of our experienced representatives out to help plan out a groundcover installation

Check www.kglandscape.com to learn more about how we can help.

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How We Restored a Backyard Swale in Shoreview, MN

By Daniel . • July 9, 2026

The legendary architect Louis Sullivan coined a phrase that has driven architecture and design ever since: "form follows function." While aesthetics are critical to buildings and landscapes alike, that physical beauty must always remain secondary to the fundamentals of good design. In Shoreview, Minnesota, just outside St. Paul , we encountered a landscape where, unfortunately, function followed form. Here, the realities and principles of effective drainage were downstream of their original builder's aesthetic choices. That meant water from snowmelt and rainfall was streaming into parts of the lawn where it wasn't meant to be. The standing water that had been allowed to collect in the back and side yards was putting a considerable amount of the property out of play. In order to reclaim usable space and rethink the way the land handled water, this Shoreview homeowner entrusted KG Landscape with identifying key issues, presenting potential solutions, and doing the necessary work the client decided upon to restore their lawn.

A landscape showing a lawn with freshly dug trenches and a curved dirt path leading toward two dark buildings by a lake.

Waterlogged by the Lake: How We Solved a Challenging Drainage Problem in Orono, MN

By Kent Gliadon • July 9, 2026

On the shores of Lake Minnetonka, perhaps the most famous of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes, an Orono, Minnesota homeowner was struggling with a back yard that was becoming more marsh than yard. The yard was a scenic one. The back porch opened up to the top of a small hill, which rolled down toward the lakefront and the boathouse. This flat space between the hill and the water would be ideal for backyard barbecues, some low-stakes games of bocce and badminton, or simply a spot to lay down a towel and get some summer reading done. Instead, this area was too waterlogged to enjoy. The runoff from the hilltop combined with unfavorable soil composition were limiting the use of the yard, closing off space while even diminishing the quality of the turf. How would this homeowner be able to reclaim this unusable land without disrupting the Lake Minnetonka shoreline that made the property so attractive? To find a solution, they turned to KG Landscape.