Native Plants
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Thursday - October 22, 2015
From: Rochester, NY
Region: Northeast
Topic: Groundcovers, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Creekside Groundcover for Upstate New York
Answered by: Anne Van Nest
QUESTION:
I live in Upstate New York in Rochester. Our winters can have lows of -10 at night at times. I have 1,300 linear feet of creekside land that seniors can view from their homes. Because of the brush, it is hard for them to walk and view the creek. I have brush hogged the entire 1,300 feet of creekside bank to prep for some sort of low growing groundcover that will beautify the bank if possible. The soil is well drained because we are on the high side of the creek. It has limited sun during the day. Can you help with plants that self seed once planted that will fill in from the creek bed to the grass we have establish on top. We would like a plant that grows only about 1 or 2 feet tall if possible.ANSWER:
There are some nice perennials native to New York that would work well on your creekside bank and which would be showy, selfseed over time and grow to be about 2 feet tall. To get a list of potentials, visit the Native Plant Database on our website and select the following criteria: New York, Herb, Perennial, Part Shade, Dry and 0-3 feet tall.
Here are some suggestions from the search:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Ageratina altissima (white snakeroot)
Antennaria plantaginifolia (plantain-leaf pussytoes)
Aquilegia canadensis (Eastern red columbine)
Asclepias verticillata (whorled milkweed)
Campanula rotundifolia (bluebell bellflower)
Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf coreopsis)
Echinacea purpurea (Eastern purple coneflower)
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)
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