Native Plants

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Wednesday - August 07, 2013

From: Gainesville, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Erosion Control, Grasses or Grass-like, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Hillside Erosion Control for Gainesville GA
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

I have a steep bare hill and the runoff from it is heavy this year. I need help with a fast growing groundcover that will help control erosion and runoff. Planting on the hill is difficult because you can't stand up and put your foot on a shovel. It gets about 6 hours of sun a day. It has some sandy areas but mostly clay. It has a row of cedar trees at the top on the east side. But it gets sun from about 12 PM to 5-6 PM

ANSWER:

As a general approach the best plants to stabilize a slope and prevent erosion are plants like grasses that have fibrous root systems and shrubs and perennials that spread with runners to form thickets. Here are a set of question/answers that Mr Smarty Plants has already put out for areas near to yours with suggestions as to good approaches:

Stopping Soil Erosion on a Slope in Bonaire GA contains a link to a University of Georgia publication on this topic, which further links to a selection of Georgia groundcovers, several of which are specifically noted as native.

Preventing erosion on a sloping lot from Buford Georgia has a good list of recommended plants

Erosion control on partially shaded slope from Atlanta GA, has a link to the Georgia Native Plant Society and a list of suggested plants

Grasses for erosion control in sand on coastal Georgia is a little farther from home but covers a different set of natives with a list of natives more suited to Nassau County.

From these recommendations, here are several plants that may prove useful:

Sedges: Carex blanda (Eastern woodland sedge), Carex texensis (Texas sedge)

Grasses: Schizachyrium scoparium (Little bluestem), Bouteloua hirsuta (Hairy grama), Bouteloua curtipendula (Sideoats grama)

Herbs: Phlox subulata (Creeping phlox), Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny spurge)

Vine: Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina jessamine)