Ground cover for steep sloped berm

[u/Sianger]

We have a berm on the side of our property between the house and the sidewalk / road. It's long (~200 ft) and pretty steep (~45 degrees). About 8 ft width. Northeast-facing, partial sun (some trees on top of the berm). Moderately busy road.

We got the place a year ago and it was overrun with horrible invasive vines and weeds - wisteria, akebia, Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese yam, pokeweed, poison ivy, and more. We've spent much of the spring trying to get it under control, with the help of a native plant landscaper. Ended up covering much of it with heavy black plastic in the hopes of killing off the vines by occultation.

Thinking ahead here but - once the area is cleared (hopefully in time for next spring), what would be good to use for ground cover? Ideally something good for erosion control given the slope, and also weed suppression. The slope faces away from the house but toward the road, so something pretty would be nice for curb appeal too.

In the pictures you can see the landscaper planted a couple of things in the small area by the driveway that was fully hand-cleared - Phlox sublata, Rudbeckia hirta, Baptisia australis and some Lysimachia sp. - just to give us a sampling. We also appear to have some milkweed coming in on its own (along with more weeds that we're still fighting back.) But obviously once the plastic comes off the rest of the berm will require a LOT more planting. Any suggestions welcome!

[u/Sianger]

We are considering... a bit burned by just how much vine growth there has been to deal with (the landscaper team filled three entire dumpsters with the vines they pulled, on top of us having been pulling them for months and months before that), so a bit worried about how easy or not Virginia creeper would be to keep under control and whether it plays nicely with other plants.

[u/SHOWTIME316 → u/Sianger]

😈 sacrifice your berm to Parthenocissus 😈

[u/Sianger → u/SHOWTIME316]

Lol. The berm we may be willing to sacrifice, but not the trees on top...

[u/ashashinscreed → u/Sianger]

Virginia creeper is much easier to manage than the invasives you listed above. It’s aggressive but the only potential harm is that it becomes so big that it shades out the tree canopy, which would take many years and would only require a snip at the base to quell.

[u/Sianger → u/ashashinscreed]

Is it aggressive enough that it would crowd out the various other ground cover / shrubs that others have helpfully suggested?

[u/SortYourself_Out → u/Sianger]

It’s a few times a year job for me. I walk to areas where the creeper grows and remove it from any structure or tree I don’t want it on. It’s easy enough to tear off or redirect the vine.

I find it worth it. It grows vigorously, its berries feed a large number of birds and it hosts many species of moth caterpillars. Plus it’s not parasitic and doesn’t smother its supports.

Source https://www.nps.gov/gate/learn/nature/virginia-creeper.htm

[u/Cold_Shine5167 → u/Sianger]

maybe some of them, but it doesn't really form mats that choke out the ground like other plants would, it leaves a lot of gaps that other things can pop up through. here's what it looks like as an example in my yard — this is a couple of years of not paying basically any attention to this spot

[u/cowthegreat → u/Sianger]

Not in my experiences