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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

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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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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.

 

From the Image Gallery


Sideoats grama
Bouteloua curtipendula

Eastern woodland sedge
Carex blanda

Texas sedge
Carex texensis

New jersey tea
Ceanothus americanus

Shrubby st. john's-wort
Hypericum prolificum

Coralberry
Symphoricarpos orbiculatus

More Grasses or Grass-like Questions

Planting of Habiturf from Smithville TX
March 25, 2012 - Are Habiturf and Thunderturf the same? and, how late in the year can I plant Habiturf?
view the full question and answer

Thicken clumps of Panicum virgatum in Stafford VA
July 22, 2009 - I am growing Panicum Virgatum varieties that will be transplanted in September to form a Native American maze project. I have given the quart size starts a root fertilizer when I planted them to try ...
view the full question and answer

Shade grasses for central Texas
November 16, 2014 - We are new to the area and bought a home this summer that has lots of shade in the very small backyard. The problem is that there was new sod laid in the backyard which now is 50% dead. We do not kno...
view the full question and answer

Questions about Habiturf
April 01, 2012 - What does habiturf look like when it first emerges? Could you post some images? And how long will it take to begin to cover?
view the full question and answer

Drainage pond plantings from Mason MI
April 23, 2012 - 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 w...
view the full question and answer

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