Colorful Low Shrubs And Trees For Banks
In many California housing developments, roads are created on hillsides and pads bulldozed off for houses. Then the problem becomes how to cover steep banks with plants to hold the soil. In some case banks are steep and extensive. Ground covers often are not sufficient to hold the soil through heavy rains. What is needed is a mix of groundcovers cloaking the ground and deeper-rooted shrubs and trees to grip deeply into the subsoil. Here is a list of possible choices that was created by us for a housing scheme where the landscape was 30 years old and needed replanting with better replacements for plants and more drought-resistant plant choices than those planted by the developer.
Low Shrubs: (3 to 5 feet tall)
(Use these on low banks and at the top of tall banks so that they create a screen but do not hide views.)
- Bottle Brush (Callistemon citrinus ‘Compacta’): Mounded plant to 4 feet wide and high.
- California Lilac (Ceonothus ‘Concha’): Good blue color. This one can take garden irrigation without dying
- Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri): Superior, drought-resistant yellow-centered white poppy flower for banks. Gray foliage should be cut down in November if possible and will spring again from ground to bloom in spring through summer.
- Radiation Lantana (Lantana ‘Radiation’): 3 to 5 feet high and wide and one of the better and most colorful lantana’s for banks. Drought-resistant with long bloom season. Flowers are yellow, orange, and pink. Looks good when mixed with blue plumbago and red bougainvillea.
- Yellow Bush Daisy (Euryops pectinatus ‘Viridis’ or ‘Green Gold’): Long-lived woody, drought-resistant, evergreen shrub, native to South Africa, 3-to 6-feet tall and wide bears yellow daisies over a long season, mainly in winter. Shear off faded flowers and a little of the green growth once a year in June. (Provides good yellow color to go near blue Pride of Madeira and pink and white dwarf tea trees.)
i’m looking for native plants species for erosion ; many of the plants you mentioned are from Australian/S. Africa.
thanx
You are correct. I have indeed recommended many plants as bank covers that are native to Australia, South America, the Mediterranean Basin, and South Africa. Many are colorful and easy to grow in California and easy to grow on banks. Some will survive with no irrigation once established, but many California native plants can survive in summer without irrigation. Thank you for suggesting that I provide some ideas for Cailfornia native plants that can be used to control erosion on steep banks. Here are some ideas:
Many varieties of California lilac (Ceonothus) make fine native ground-covers to grow on steep banks in coastal zones. Among the best selections and varieties for this purpose are Ceonothus gloriosus ‘Anchor Bay’; Carmel Creeper (C.g. exaltatus); and C.h.g. ‘Yankee Point’. Other native ground covers good for banks include Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri), Manzanita (Archtostaphylos), and Monkey flower (Mimulus).
Taller than the above lilac varieties is C. ‘Julia Phelps’, which is particularly stunning planted on a steep bank next to flannel bush (Fremontedendron ‘California Glory.)—Make sure not to water flannel bush in summer. Plant it in fall and just spritz the foliage with a little spray of water in the evening of hot dry days in summer to make the plant feel as if it has been moistened by a light shower or heavy dew. This is enough to get it through the summer. Summer irrigation can kill it.
Other native shrubs that are useful for controlling erosion on steep banks include lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia), dwarf coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis), Bush anemone (Carpenteria californica), Western redbud (Cercis occidentalis), island bush poppy (Dendromecon harfordii), toyon (Heteromleles arbutifolia), and coffee berry (Rhamnus californica).
Our HOA is located in Carlsbad approximately 1 mile from the coast. We have large irrigated slope areas that are largely rosea ice plant and lampranthus. I want to introduce ceonothus (carmel creeper) as a green ground cover. Will the ceonothus tolerate iirigated slopes along with rosea and lampranthus?
Ceanothus needs no irrigation once established. If your rosea iceplant and lampranthus can tolerate no irrigation, ceanothus might survive. However, experience shows natives do better in ground where exotics have not been grown. I tried ceanothus on a bank that had iceplant on it previously and mine died, but other factors might have been involved. I always believe things are worth a try as long as you are not overly discouraged if it doesn’t work. I cannot guarantee that this scheme will work.