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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Thursday - July 02, 2015

From: Dallas, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Erosion Control, Shrubs, Trees
Title: Rocky Stream Bank Plants for Dallas, TX
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

Need live stake shrubbery or tree ideas for a rocky stream bank prone to high water. Thank you

ANSWER:

Mr Smarty Plants has answered a few similar questions, most of which are a bit more open in simply calling for erosion control plants. The shrubs [and trees] suggested in these question/answer pairs should be good candidates:

Erosion Control with perennials for a shady Dallas bank

Shrubs for erosion protection in Arlington TX

Plants to stop erosion on sandy slope in north central Texas

Native ground covers for rocky, shady slope in Arlington, TX

Plants to prevent creekside erosion in Nacogdoches County, Texas

As the above discussions don’t really address trees, this is a good opportunity to also discuss the method of using the Wildflower Centers collections to identify more candidates. One of the links listed on every page is “Special Collections”. From that page, you can choose the collection for your area. In this case, the “North Central Texas” collection is one of the appropriate ones.

These lists can be reduced to plants with specific characteristics. Selecting “Trees”, there are 30 candidates to consider. You can then read in the plant record notes on soil, native habitat, speed of growth and several other characteristics that may be important to you in choice of tree.

From these discussions, the plants below may well be good for your application:

Shrubs: Hibiscus laevis (Halberdleaf rosemallow), Cephalanthus occidentalis (Common buttonbush), Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon), Mahonia trifoliolata (Agarita), Morella cerifera (Wax myrtle)

Trees:

Moist, Rich soil - Acer negundo (Ash-leaf maple), Aesculus glabra (Ohio buckeye), Juglans nigra (Black walnut),

Rocky soil - Carya texana (Black hickory), Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon), Juniperus ashei (Ashe juniper), Rhus lanceolata (Prairie flameleaf sumac)