Help with planting new slopes.

Hello Everyone. I would really appreciate some help with deciding what to plant in two newly formed large sloping areas in our garden. We have recently formed a new driveway ( not quite finished yet!) and as a result have two large fairly steep slopes. One is steeper than the other.
We have a large garden with a lot of grass to cut and woodland to maintain, so we would prefer evergreen, fast growing plants that will cover the areas pretty quickly and leave it fairly maintenance free. As it is the new entrance way to the house I would like it fairly attractive to the eye. The areas are in shade first thing in the morning getting sunny as the day goes on. There are a lot of surrounding trees. My thoughts are maybe to plant a couple of spring flowering cherry blossom trees or Juniper skyrocket and underplant with an evergreen plant that will carpet the area and help with weed control and soil erosion. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner kkay. I'm sorry your pictures can't be opened, would you like to try again please.

 

The pictures open OK here - but they came up rather slowly, don't know why (the files aren't that big)

 

You could "enjoy" the higher bank when driving down the drive, but would you similarly be able to enjoy the lower one? Do you look up towards it from anywhere else in the garden? If not I think I would plant taller things on the lower bank to form a barrier on the lower side of the drive. You could create an avenue to drive down - same trees planted on both sides of the drive, or plant trees on the lower blank and leave the higher bank planted with lower / colourful plants to provide year round interest - a herbaceous border for example (that ain't particularly low-maintenance, but its an example of a colourful planting). The bank will work to your benefit as things planted further back will be taller by virtue of planting position, so more ability to see the plants at the back.

Presumably you will want to reinstate / extend the hedge along the road to have a barrier and stop cars driving over the edge of your garden. You could plant some trees along the road edge - a row of Cherries would look very handsome in the spring - albeit only for a week or so ...

If the bank faces South you could plant spring bulbs - Daffs for example - they would look sumptuous in the Spring (I say if it faces south as Daffs tend to turn their heads to the sun, so if it faces North they would be inclined to face up the bank, but that's perhaps not a strong enough reason not to plant Spring bulbs)

 

Hi there..many thanks for the advice which is very helpful.. We do look up to the lower slope , there will be a grass pathway at the bottom,along the full length of the slope. We are going to extend the hedge along the roadside. We were thinking maybe of replacing what is there with a hedge of laurel because its evergreen and the hedge at the moment goes to stick and looks very bare in the winter. Bulbs are a good idea. It is not south facing but will probably still look nice.
Hopefully the pictures are ok now!

 

Laurel grows pretty wide, I think you'd find it was a bit too wide (you can cut it as narrow as you like, of course, but the fact that it wants to be wide will work against you )

Plenty of other evergreen choices though. Yew cannot be beaten for a nice smart clipped hedge, Thuja plicata atrovirens (clips nearly as nice and smart as Yew, none of the bad attributes of Leylandii, grows reasonably fast) or a broadleaf like Holly. Or Beech which will hold on to its "brown" leaves in Winter (not a good choice if you are on heavy land, although with the slope the drainage should be fine).