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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

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Thursday - January 10, 2013

From: Knoxville, TN
Region: Southeast
Topic: Erosion Control, Grasses or Grass-like, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Need plants for steep slope in Knoxville, TN.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

I have several steep banks that have to be weed-eated each year every week. Do you know if there are any kinds of ground cover that would take over the weeds on these steep dangerous banks. I live in Knoxville Tn.

ANSWER:

Mr. Smarty Plants is wondering what kind of weeds you have that require that much weed-eating, and how short you wish to keep them? We often recommend planting grasses/grass-like plants to help control erosion on steep slopes, but many of these are 12 inches tall or more. I am going to suggest two approaches to help solve your problem. The first is to introduce you to our Native Plant Database.

 Scroll down to the Combination Search Box. and select Tennessee under State, Grass/grass-like under Habit, and perennial under Duration. Check sun under Light requirement and dry under Soil moisture. Click on the Submit Combination Search button, and you will get a  list of 20 native grass/grass-like plants for Tennessee landscapes. Clicking  on the scientific name of each plant will bring up its NPIN page which contains a description of the plant, its growth characteristics and requirements, and in most cases images. As you check out each plant, you can note its size and other features to see if they might fit your needs.

You can modify your search by going to the Narrow Your Search Box on the right side of the screen and change Grass/grass-like to Herb under General Appearance, and clicking 0-1 under Height. Clicking on  the Narrow your Search Box will bring up a list of 12 flowering plants that you can check  out.

The second approach is to share the answers to previously asked questions. We quite often get questions about what to grow on steep slopes. All of these questions are from the southeastern US, so growing conditions will be similar to Tennessee. You will find suggestions for plants in each answer along with images of the plants.

Previous questions
Tennessee 
    #5241

Georgia
   #4101

South Carolina
   #8126

North Carolina
   #6854  erosion control blanket
   #3407 

Virginia,  talks about not cutting the grass can strengthen the roots
   #4007

 

More Erosion Control Questions

Plants for a steep bank in Virginia
June 23, 2009 - I have a small yard with a 3 foot steep bank that I want to plant on. I am looking for fast growing ground cover. There is some shade but not a lot and has a southern exposure. Ground is a bit roug...
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Need plants to control erosion on a hillside in Nashville, TN.
February 28, 2012 - Recently, a rogue contractor scraped all the sod off of my Tennessee hillside. Now the clay soil is exposed and washing away quickly. The hill slope is approximately 30 degrees. In the spring I'd ...
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Riverbank Plants for Minnesota
September 04, 2013 - I would like to stablize a steep riverbank slope along the Upper Mississippi in St. Cloud MN. The slopes are almost 1:1. We are using an open cell concrete matt in which we are going to plant native...
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Steep slope from Charlotte NC
May 03, 2012 - I live near Charlotte, NC and I have a very steep sloped area from the edge of our front yard down to the road. It's a huge eyesore mainly because it is red clay dirt and has nothing growing on it. W...
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Dealing with rain runoff on a slope in Austin
March 24, 2012 - Our lawn is a year old and slopes at about a 45 degree angle with a lot of small holes and tiny gullies from water run-off. I have tried packing them with soil, but it washes away in the rain. Would ...
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