Welcome to the forum! When we did the ground cover on a hill, we just made sure to put a rock,board, or something in front of the plant so the rain did not wash away the soil.
I hope to see you around alot!

I've seen arboretums and botanical gardens, that are newly planting a steep hill, use heavy natural burlap. The Burlap will do an exelent job of preventing errosion and will break down in just a few years after the plants have had time to take hold. Burlap is also a little prettier than some other alternatives because it can blend in with the soil to some degree. If you do this, I would use the heavier stuff. I tried the lighter burlap and it started breaking down too soon.

BTW, even though I gave recommendations about the groundcover option, I still vote for terraces (at least for some of it). Think of all the neat stuff you could plant! If it's done right, you'll be glad you did it later.

If you do use landscape blocks, make sure they are installed by someone that knows how to do it right. There are some installers that just don't know what they're doing. You don't want the wall to give way or fall apart later on.

welcome! another knoxvillian. i agree that terraces would give a lot more flexability to what/how to plant. also-

We demand before and after pictures!

Here are some pictures of my front yard. I don't think the couple that had the house before us were into gardening although someone before them was.

As for the slope, putting in retaining walls would require bringing in a lot of fill dirt. Our subdivision has underground utilities and they run under the area where the walls would go. I just don't think that they could dig deep enough to use just the dirt from the yard. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have someone come in and do an estimate

The bed beside the driveway just needs some refreshing for now. There are a couple of junipers that I want to take out.

The bed in front of the porch needs a major overhaul. The landscape timbers need replacing. The whole porch area needs to be redone. The sidewalk and steps need to be replaced and I may change their location. Also, the columns on the porch are not spaced evenly.

The bed in the front yard is in decent shape. It's filled with vinca and ivy. I would like to add some hydrangeas and azaleas.

That's about it for now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Front yard pictures

Hmmm, it's amazing how much difference pictures make. I had a whole different picture in my mind.

For one thing, the yard isn't as steep as I had pictured. You might do some small terraces with natural rocks or something like that. I am sure large boulders are expensive, but that would really put a wow factor into the yard. I definitely wouldn't go with straight retainer walls. If you do use walls, hide them with plants and keep them short and curvy.

If that were my house and I wasn't sure what to do, I think I would see if I could get a couple of landscapers to come out and make a proposal. See what they recommend.