Mondo grass or liriope. That will keep the soil stable on the slope. Pretty easy to control, fills in quickly, doesn't climb. Liriope blooms in the spring. Both come in a pretty variegated form, but the variegated doesn't spread as fast.

Barbie, to pick the right ground cover for the area it is important if you have full sun or shade.

I had my share of ground covers, some spread really fast like the Asiatic Jasmine or the Mimosa but they are easy care, look good and take any sun or shade.

For pretty flowers I like the dwarf chenille, beach sunflower, peanut.

I have the dwarf tibouchina under the avocado tree and it is well behaved, I rake it often to keep in place, also don't let it get too high so my dogs can walk there, gets a lot of pretty flowers. Comes back after a freeze.

Silvia

Silvia, I love that bromeliad you have in the inner circle. I spent a couple of hours today looking at the cold-hardy broms list and cross-referencing them with Tropiflora to see if I could find any, but boy, were they expensive! I miss being further south where you can get pups from your friends, or just ask people if you can have one, and they always say yes. :)

I have the Sensitive Plant (don't know the real name). Pretty groundcover which spreads very fast. Stays low and very green. I never water (don't have sprinklers) and hate grass. This plant is taking over my lawn and I love it.

I have someone who mows the weeds I have, so this groundcover gets mowed. I'm hoping it continues its march across my lawn so looks green.

Because I don't water, my lawn is gone and I have sandy patches and brown grass. This plant is taking over the space.

Great plant but it is aggressive and will spread quickly.

Love it!

Jane

Is that richardia, Jane? It looks great.

This is the real name,

https://www.britannica.com/plant/sensitive-plant

I just want to reiterate that this plant never gets watered nor fertilized. Full sun all day. Rapid spreader, in both sun and shade. It’s a type of Mimosa, spreads by runners. You can’t kill it!

That's really interesting. The sunshine mimosa I see used around here sometimes is a lot taller than that, more like ankle-deep if you walk on it.

You are right. It would be a little taller but the lawn guy mows it. I’ll take a pic of it growing in a spot that doesn’t get mowed so you can see the size. Btw, it is so soft underfoot, nicer than Florida grass.

Oh, it's good to know it can be mowed. I've been trying to get this place to give up on St Augustine for the longest time, and their main objection so far is that the alternatives don't lend themselves to being walked on.

So Jane even where it's thin it is nice to walk on?

Many choices. I think I have it narrowed to 3. LOL

writersblock - you're right. Sensitive plant is Mimosa pudica and Sunshine mimosa is Mimosa strigillosa, which is native to FL. Sensitive plant has thorns, so you don't want to put it anywhere you're going to be barefoot, but Mimosa strigillosa doesn't have thorns. The first one clings closer to the ground, and sunshine mimosa grows a little taller, but it mats down a bit once it gets thick. It grows wild everywhere around where i live, and I'm always tempted to jerk some out of the ground. I might do that one day.

Thanks, dirty, I wasn’t sure which one it was. No thorns and very soft to walk on. It also grows in full sun and deep shade.

ibarb, soft as cotton. You realize I never planted it, it was in a small flower bed by my front door. In 6 years, it has marched across my lawn. I let it spread. From a small plant, it’s almost covered my lawn which is very big.

One word of caution. It is very aggressive. It spreads by runners which are thick and woody. A few friends and neighbors have taken pieces to start in their yards and it never took. I’ve tried to plant pieces in my back yard and it didn’t work. Not sure why, but I heard it should be bought as a plant and then put in the ground. So I’m going to try starting pieces in pots to put in my back yard.

The photo above shows the original plant, which left unchecked would cover my front walkway. The entry is covered by my roof. There is no sun there. There’s a pic of the flower it gets if not mowed. The pink ball.

Jane

The way I propagated mine was to pin it to a small pot sunk into the ground, then when it had enough roots, I could cut it off, pull it up, and plant it elsewhere.

Barbie, I was away from the garden and I could not do the up keep of the ground cover, it does get taller. I use a hoe to keep it in place and from time to time, I go over with the tool to lower the plants and not get any taller because of my small dogs and something can be hiding in them. I will go over with the broom soon when I get a time.

Did you decide on the ground cover? it all depends on if you want it to spread like wildfire like the sunshine mimosa (no thorns) or the Asiatic jasmine. For my small garden were not a good idea and I don't have them anymore.

This is my tibouchina today getting some flowers

Silvia

Silvia -

Actually I am leaning toward thyme. Creeping thyme seems like a wonderful, and useful ground cover, but I love the look of your tibouchina and i may plant both with some stepping stones. The area is really narrow, and slanted so the steps would be good to have also. I figured if I planted the two varieties alternately with the stones in between they will each have an area to inhabit and if one is doing better than the other I can switch it out. I have another area for the tribouchina. (Behind the focal plants in my front bed)

Thanks for all your help!

Barbie~

As someone once said on this forum (and I wish I could find it), there is a very fine line between hardy/healthy and aggressive/invasive. I often hearken back to that comment as I'm dealing with a plant that's a little tooooo healthy. :)

Carol in Jacksonville

Wow, thyme grows year round outside where you are? I'm so jealous. Mine just packed up for the season.

moss roes, portulaca...it is drought tolerate, beautiful miniature looking roses not fussy, great ground cover