Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

We are afraid this is not much information to go on, but we will see if we can help you find a solution for your erosion problem. First, we want you to know that the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center,  home of Mr. Smarty Plants, is commited to the growth, propagation and protection of plants native not only to North America but also to the area in which the plants evolved; in your case, Hennipin County, MN. This helps to ensure that the plants selected are already accustomed to the climate, rainfall and soils where they are being planted.

Here is a previous Mr. Smarty Plants answer on controlling erosion around a lakeside area. The plants we suggest for you might not be the same as those for New Jersey, but the general plan is the same, using grasses with long fibrous roots  and low shrubs with roots that will spread and hold the soil.

We will go to our Native Plant Database, and scroll down to the Combination Search. There we will select Minnesota for the state, "grass or grasslike" for Habit and 1' to 3' for Height. Since you did not indicate the amount of sunshine the area got each day, we will omit that specification, but you can follow each plant link to our webpage on that plant to discover what its optimal growing conditions are. After that search, we will repeat it, putting "shrub" under Habit. You can run the search yourself putting in whatever heights, bloom times, etc. you are looking for. We will check with the USDA Plant Profiles on each plant (a link is at the bottom of the plant page) to ensure that plant is native to the area of Hennepin County, in southeastern Minnesota. This gives a little more confidence that the plant can do well in the climate, rainfall and soils in your area.

If you have difficulty finding the native plants you want, go to our National Supplier's Directory, put your town and state, or just your zipcode, in the "Enter Search Location" box and click on GO. This will give you a list of native plant nurseries, seed suppliers and consultants in your general area. All have contact information so you can find out if they have what you are looking for before you go.

Grasses for erosion control:

Aristida purpurea (Purple threeawn)

Bouteloua hirsuta (Hairy grama)

Carex blanda (Eastern woodland sedge)

Carex plantaginea (Plantainleaf sedge)

Elymus canadensis (Canada wild rye)

Muhlenbergia schreberi (Nimblewill)

Shrubs for erosion control:

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick)

Ceanothus americanus (New jersey tea)

Gaultheria hispidula (Creeping snowberry)

Gaultheria procumbens (Eastern teaberry)

Ledum groenlandicum (Bog labrador tea)

Vaccinium angustifolium (Late lowbush blueberry)