• You're often faced with varying types of surfaces in your backyard landscape, including slopes. Slopes can be challenging in their own way but present new opportunities to display your gardening prowess. Several slope-specific landscaping tips can help you make the most of your backyard slope in a way that saves you time and water.
  
  

Know Your Compass Points

• Slopes that face the west or south dry out faster and need to be watered more frequently than slopes facing the north or the east. Plan accordingly by using drought-tolerant species on southern or western slopes to help reduce what can otherwise be an exorbitantly high water bill.
  
  

Use Groundcovers

• While bare soil can suffice in regular flowerbeds and flat landscaping surfaces, bare soil on slopes often erodes quickly due to wind exposure and the slanted surface. To help prevent erosion, cover your slopes with groundcover plants. These shield and protect the underlying dirt. Some of the best groundcovers for slopes, according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension, include Sedum, Vinca minor and Liriope muscari.
  
  

Choose Daylilies

• Flower bulbs are favorites for adding splashes of vibrant, fast-growing color to a landscape. Unfortunately, many bulb species have such shallow root systems that they fail to anchor down the dirt on a steep slope. Not so with daylilies, which the University of Illinois Extension recommends due to their deep, fibrous roots that help to anchor slopes while also adding color to your hills.
  
  

Plant in Basins

• Avoid the traditional method of creating rows for your plants. Instead, dig basin-like formations into the side of the slope as individual planting spots for each of your plants, which helps create a more natural look on a hill and also helps pool water around the plants instead of channeling the water down the hill.
  
  

Grade the Slope

• The steeper the slope, the more water it uses because the slope simply funnels moisture away from your plants' roots and downhill. Colorado State University advises getting professional help to grade your slope if it has a 50 percent slope or more -- 50 feet of elevation change for every 100 feet of horizontal space. In the long run, the university says paying for grading of your slope will save you more money than having to water such a steep surface.
  
  

Spread Lots of Mulch

• Slopes are exposed to lots of wind and sunlight, which can quickly evaporate away moisture. To help reduce this, slopes require lots of mulch. Some of the best mulch for sloped surfaces is leaves and shredded bark, reports Washington State University.