Native Plants

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Monday - April 23, 2012

From: Mason, MI
Region: Midwest
Topic: Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Drainage pond plantings from Mason MI
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

We have a drainage pond in our back yard. It has a large muddy bank and some steep sides where erosion has started to take its toll. We are looking for some Michigan/Mid-Western native plants that would provide ground cover and erosion control. The area gets full sun and still doesn't dry out (and may flood in times of very heavy rain). Soil is a clay loam in the area.

ANSWER:

When we searched on the Internet for "drainage pond," we got a number of references to a "retention pond," so we are assuming they are the same thing.

From the EPA, here is an article on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which is about retention ponds.

With that in mind, we have two very similar questions in our queue; one is yours from Michigan and the other from Hendersonville NC. We will change the plant recommendations for North Carolina in the question from that area.

We have some previous Mr. Smarty Plants answers that not only address your question, but have links to some more information. The really good part is that these questions are also from Michigan, so the plant suggestions will be apropos to your situation. Here are the links to previous questions:

Grand Haven MI