Native Plants

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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Friday - January 03, 2014

From: Saint Louis County, MO
Region: Midwest
Topic: Deer Resistant, Erosion Control, Grasses or Grass-like, Shrubs
Title: Deer Resistance and Erosion Control for St. Louis County MO
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

I am looking for deer and rabbit resistant native plants for erosion control on a steep ravine slope with part sun and part shade in St. Louis County MO.

ANSWER:

Here is a selection of previous Mr Smarty Plant’s responses to questions that involve both erosion control and deer resistance. Only the first reference is from Missouri, but all give some appropriate direction.

Arnold MO: Low-maintenance grass for retention pond
Limiting erosion around pond from Brooklyn Park MN
Deer-resistant groundcovers for erosion control
Flowering Deer Resistant Ground Cover for Dry Rocky Soil: Alabama

Mr Smarty Plant’s recipe for erosion control is to choose plants that clump and/or have extensive root systems. These larger root systems tend to hold the soil in place to a larger extent than the size of the plant would suggest.

There is a special collection of recommended species for Deer resistance. Rabbit resistance isn’t mentioned in the plant records, but one can hope that deer resistant species are similar. This link leads to the collection of deer resistant species.

Like the other special lists, this can be searched for state, aspect, height and several other important characteristics. Thinking about both of these sets of characteristics, my review of this list suggests the following as suitable plants:

Grasses: Bouteloua curtipendula (Sideoats grama), Carex blanda (Eastern woodland sedge), Carex texensis (Texas sedge)

Shrubs: Ceanothus americanus (New jersey tea), Hypericum prolificum (Shrubby st. johnswort). Symphoricarpos orbiculatus (Coralberry)

If you want a little flowering color, there are 43 native wildflowers that also are shown by searching for “Herbs” in this same collection.