Native Plants

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Tuesday - June 07, 2011

From: Rhinelander, WI
Region: Midwest
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Plants for a shady hillside in WI
Answered by: Anne Bossart

QUESTION:

I would like to know what kind of plants I could plant on a northern exposure hillside to stop erosion. At the bottom of the hill is a lake. Also would putting rocks from the area as natural retaining work to stop erosion. There are a mixture of a few pines, maples and birches on this hillside also. I don't want to put any more trees on the hillside just some plants. Thanks

ANSWER:

It's a good idea to use the native rocks strategically to stabilize your slope. They don't necessarily need to be lined up as for a retaining wall, but can be placed as nature would. This will create places to nestle plants around them and slow the flow of water down the slope.

There are many woodland shrubs and herbaeous plants (grasses, ferns and perennials) that will grow oon your shady slope and complement the trees you have growing there.

The plants you use for the project will ultimately be the ones that are available in the nurseries, but to learn about the plants that are native to your area and suitable candidates visit our Native Plant Database and do a Combination Search for Wisconsin, the plant type (shrub, herb etc) and your conditions (shady and dry or moist?). The database will generate lists of plants with links to detailed information pages.

Some plants fom those lists to consider are:

Shrubs

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick)

Diervilla lonicera (Northern bush honeysuckle)

Gaultheria procumbens (Checkerberry)

Hypericum prolificum (Shrubby st. johnswort)

Physocarpus opulifolius (Atlantic ninebark)

Symphoricarpos orbiculatus (Coralberry)

Perennials & Ferns

Aquilegia canadensis (Eastern red columbine)

Maianthemum stellatum (Starry false lily of the valley)

Mitchella repens (Partridgeberry)