A lot of people will shriek in horror at this suggestion, but English ivy will do the job because the roots can be at the drip edge of the tree(s) and will get adequate moisture. Just be sure to "aim" the shoots toward the barren areas and keep it trimmed where it wants to escape to your lawn, etc. I have it under my blue spruce where nothing else would grow and believe me I have tried everything! It's a little work to keep it contained but far from overwhelming.

Have you thought about mixing textures instead of a monoculture? creeping Junipers won't do in the shade, but microbiota decussata is wonderful. Lovely texture, decent green in season, bronzey in winter. A plant can get as wide as 6 feet, I think. There is a new variety that is more upright, less spreading. But I don't see the point of it in your situation, unless for variety.

If you are in zone 5 with snow cover why does it need to evergreen? (By that I assume you mean keeps its leaves but not necessarily a conifer)

There are al the hakone grasses, groundcover perennial geraniums (i.e. Spessart) weed smothering epimediums.
If it

Is the hill steep? Are you going to feel like you have to rake it or can you leave the leaves?

You sound like you are in hurry. Consider slowing down just a bit and making good choices so you don't have to re-do it in a year or two. You need to kill the grass or it will keep coming up between the plantings and look really ugly and annoying.

If you give us a more detailed description of the site, exposure, slope, budget and your energy level you'll get more answers targeted to your conditions.

Probably more opinion than you wanted.

MT

Pachysandra + vinka.
All kinds of creeping euonymuses, Euonymus fortunei= Wintercreeper Euonymus. Also, some prostrate junipers could live in a dry shade, but they will not look as good as in a dry sun.

I just spent 2+ years eradicating a hillside of Euonymus fortunei. It was probably about 15 years old and really got out of hand. It was getting into the woods and was really evil. super hard to kill too. laughed at weed or brush killer.

My hillside is mostly sunny, so perhaps it would not be as aggressive in shade.

Pachasandra can get crazy too, but I don't think it is as aggressive. The variegated kind may be a bit less aggressive and is attractive (IMO). If lawn is nearby, keep it far away and be prepared to pull the edges out periodically.

I guess it depends too on how big the hillside is and whats nearby. If it is really large and open, I suppose you do need something somewhat aggressive.

The Russian Cypress can get quite large. Mine are probably 8' in only 3-4 years. I love them. Not so nice looking in the winter (grey-ish brown), but not a big deal. They prune easily if they start to extend their space.

I have noticed with vinca that it will not grow into the grass, which is pretty cool. I don't know how it stops, but it absolutely stops when encountering grass. I have a circle of vinca around a crabapple tree and it is amazing how it stops at the grass edge. Bonus is pretty blue flowers in spring.

I second the Vinca recommendation. Its evergreen and the flowers in spring are plentiful. My vinca tries to sneak into the lawn though. Its easy to keep it in check by just pulling out the invaders.

Vinca at my h*ouse has been ok under my old Maple t*ree. It is an area that I rarely pay any attention to and is dry from the tree roots. Rarely gets water unless it is a real drought. It borders the driveway on one side and the street on one side, so there is a limit to how far the vinca can travel. I see some of it is escaping in the other direction and it should be ok if I keep my eye on it.

I have it in another area that is up against the h*ouse on one side and a cement walkway on another, the backdoor steps on another, but on the fourth side it is starting to travel. I am planning on removing all of it in this area when I get around to it. Both areas are shady and it still thrives and travels a little bit.

On the other hand, since it was working out okay in these two areas, I decided about 6 years ago to add some to the back yard in an open area, with a little more sun. Three small little divisions from the front. Wow! In two years I had a patch 6ft x 6ft. I ripped it out immediately. It is not difficult to remove really, just digging and pulling does the trick. I would just be cautious in an open area.

Dry shade is perfect for epimedium. I have it growing in many dry shady areas and it has amazed me with it's completely carefree, bulletproof abilities. It grows in dense shade at the base of maple t*rees with no watering or attention. It has no in*sect problems that I've ever seen. There are varieties that 'run' and will spread fairly fast. You will see epimediums for sale in many nurseries, but in my experience, the choices are limited to a few popular varieties. I buy mine from Daryl Probst in Mass*achusetts who has a great selection and healthy pl*ants. If you look through his catalog, you will see lots of varieties that 'travel'. They are great about answering questions by ph*one too and could help you choose a good variety for what you want and might even be able to of*fer suggestions for other pl*ants that you could include.

I was just thinking. I don't have the 'traveling' kinds of epimedium. Mine are clumpers. So I have no experience with whether they get out of hand or not. I would ask how easy/hard they are to remove if you want to. The clumpers are easy to dig out and remove. If I were doing an open hillside, I might put the clumppers along the edges I didn't want it to travel from and the runners in the middle. I might also find other pl*ants to add so it wouldn't be just one hillside of epimedium. Oh, and they do have some 'evergreen' varieties, but I don't know what their winter appearance is like.

Evergreen, dry and shade, is a difficult proposition. Taxus is the only thing that comes to mind, but maybe there are natives that I am unfamiliar with.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Epimedium Page

You might check the Stepables site as they have a great ground cover search engine that might help you find the right plant for your hill. If you are unhappy with your limited choices you might consider irrigating the area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stepables

Thank you all for such wonderful recommendations. I looked up vinca and a friend has that at her house. I am going to try to use that as a groundcover for the hill. It will spare me from breaking a leg trying to mow the hill also...

But you should still get rid of the grass before planting the vinca. That requires a plan.
Marie

I am going to rip out my vinca because it's traveling too much, so if you want mine, you can come and get it! I'm in the Lowell, Mass area.

alice, i would like ALL of it and will help you however you need, but can it wait awhile?
mindy
cottonarboretum@comcast.net

is your name larissa? what a pretty name.
rather than repeat what i alrdy wrote, plse see
www.cottonarboretum.com

go to the Techniques page and look for the Dry Shade entry, w/photos (sorry, captions to be done later; if you need i.d.s, ask away.
mindy

microbiotta decussata is WICKED WICKED WICKED SLOOOOOOOOW.

m. decussata may be slow, but doesn't it make sense to plant for the long run as well as right now? This may be getting off the op's question, which was pretty straightforward. But if gardener can imagine she might be bored with a hillside of lamium after a couple of years, it makes sense to start the slow growing plants earlier rather than later in plan. I speak from experience I'm sure others share: despite all I know it is a big temptation to plant for immediate gratification. I forget that however slow a plant may grow, 5 years is a lot of growth to forego. I bought my microbiotas at least five years ago; they were 18-24 inches wide. Planted on 4 foot centers, they are nearly touching one another now.
But as people have said, periwinkle will do.

I know that vinca is supposed to be fast growing and invasive, and there are plenty of people trying to get rid of it, but mine is still fairly thin in places I *want* it to grow. It does allow weeds to grow in the spaces while it's getting established. Pachysandra is the same way--very persistent even where you don't want it, but seems to take a fair amount of time to get really dense. At least there are likely going to be ample people willing to give you free or cheap offerings of both vinca and pachysandra. Same thing for wintercreeper, but do read the warnings about its invasive tendencies, especially if you're near woods.

I've become a big fan of microbiota. It may not be the fastest thing on earth, but it's noticeably increased. It takes snow load well, it's soft in texture, it out-competes weeds, and it's had very little winter kill. If you want to see what a really well established patch looks like, check out Tower Hill Botanic Garden.

Another vote for vinca particularly vinca minor. It is ridiculously aggressive and very thick once established. It will cover your hillside in no time. You want to truly make sure that you want this, though. It's difficult to eradicate it once established. Every part of the plant roots if it comes in contact with the ground. Beautiful flowers this time of year!

yeah, and it will eat your mother and your first born, too. But if "ridiculously aggressive" is what one is looking for, vinca has won, hands down.

Does anyone have something new to add to this thread?

I don't remember if ajuga was mentioned.