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Wild Willow
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Ok, as some of you may or may not know.. I am newly divorced.. meaning my husband of 15 years is no longer around to help me do things on my 10+ acre 'farm'. So, I am left to my own devices and am seeking advice/suggestions/opinions from all of you wonderful people.

The entire front of my property line is road front... which also means a ditch. In some places it is rather deep with a bit of a steep incline/embankment. I am sorry I don't have pictures, but I can get some.. albeit they will be of a snow covered ditch right now.

In the past, my ex would weedeat and mow when the urge struck him. It always looks very nice when kept up with the weedeater. I am looking for a more permanent solution. I have had people suggest burning it, Round Up, and ground covers. The problem is, in most places, it is too steep for a ground cover. I really don't want to burn it.. I think it looks terrible.. and how long does that last anyway?? And aside from the Round Up being expensive, how safe is it? I have a creek that runs the length of my property, from the road/ditch back... and it is down stream to all the water run off when we get a heavy rain. Will that Round Up getting into my creek be harmful? I have horses in that field.

I know this is alot of questions.. I do apologize.. I am just trying to think ahead. Even if there is something I can do, to start on a solution this year, I would be very interested in hearing it. Thanks in advance!!!

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Welcome back, Pink.
I do not know what to tell you. I also have to care for some land alone. I do use a Roundup type of weedkiller to help me in the broader areas.
I live in a wildfire prone area in southern California and it helps keep me fire free. (And the idea of burning off anything is scary and illegal here.) I have done extensive research and it is one of the safest things to use when used properly. And it has a fairly rapid breakdown rate to benign substances.
Some of the rest of my open spaces are best dealt with with a weedeater and things. It is all work.


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Have you considered laying down a weed barrier. Its a fabric you can get that plants deters most plants from growing there. Some might sneak through but it should take care of most of them.


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Wild Willow
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Thanks for the welcome back Tina. shewinks And thanks for the reply. I guess I will see what some other people have to say.. hoping to get more replies.

Shani, no, I really hadn't considered using the weed barrier stuff. That would be really ugly though, wouldn't it? Unless I could plant something at the top, something that would vine down into the ditch area to cover the weed barrier.

OR, is there any kind of heavy duty, low maintenance ground cover that vines or that will easily grow on a steep incline/embankment?

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Honeysuckle would cover that ditch. I use weed barrier cloth but on flatter areas or rounded places. It is really not good on steep hillsides.


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Wild Willow
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Isn't honeysuckle a bush?

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Some honeysuckle is shrubby. Some is a fairly aggressive vine.


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Wild Willow
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Hmm... something to consider. I will have to go look up honeysuckle. :) Thank you!!

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honeysuckle would work and that one is good for the sunny spots as well as shady. i'd make sure to get a type that is native to this country because it won't overtake the area like the japanese types do! once you plant a japanese one, you can't get rid of it!! although the american honeysuckle may take a little longer to cover the area completely, it will be much easier to keep corralled!

you could also do clematis virginiana - that's native to this country. now, that one will grow vigorously - it's easy enough to cut it back every couple years to keep it in check, though.

you could also plant forsythia - that will be slower to spread out.

you could also intermingle the three! forsythia blooms in spring, the honeysuckle in summer and then the clematis in the fall - so, you'd have greenery all throughout and flowers interspersed through the growing season. plus, if you let the forsythia just grow (don't trim it to shape it) and allow the other two to grow up/through it, you'd end up with a natural trellis to support the vines. the upright nature of the forsythia will offset and compliment the viney nature of the other two.


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Wild Willow
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Wow.. thank you Joclyn!! I looked up Honeysuckle and it definitely sounds like it might work. :) I will check out the clematis. I have one small forsythia bush.. a few years old and it just doesn't seem to be getting much bigger.. so I might want something that grows a bit faster.

So for the Honeysuckle, I would just plant it at the topline of the ditch?

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Wild Willow
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Ok, I am doing some googling and have come up with a few other possibilities.

Native Daylilies, I like this idea too.. maybe not for the whole ditchline, but since it's roadside, it would fit in with the natural occurrence of them.

Creeping Charlie, I LOVE this stuff. I have it here and there already. Would love to be able to transplant some along the ditchline and watch it work it's magic.

Crown Vetch, considered this, but then found out it's toxic to horses.. so that is a big NO!

Ornamental Strawberries, don't know much about this one.



So, out of those, what do you guys think? Could I do Creeping Charlie and throw in some of the Native Daylilies here and there along the bank? It would be pretty..!


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Wild Willow
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Ok, I am doing some googling and have come up with a few other possibilities.

Native Daylilies, I like this idea too.. maybe not for the whole ditchline, but since it's roadside, it would fit in with the natural occurrence of them.

Creeping Charlie, I LOVE this stuff. I have it here and there already. Would love to be able to transplant some along the ditchline and watch it work it's magic.

Crown Vetch, considered this, but then found out it's toxic to horses.. so that is a big NO!

Ornamental Strawberries, don't know much about this one.

Sedum, Red Creeping, This is very pretty too! But I don't know that much about it either.



So, out of those, what do you guys think? Could I do Creeping Charlie and throw in some of the Native Daylilies here and there along the bank, maybe even some of the Sedum? It would be pretty..! I am sooo excited! clap


OH, and I forgot to mention, I have 'not very good, clay type soil'! This might make a difference in what I choose.



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Wild Willow
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Yikes, sorry for that double post.. I was trying to edit my first one.. can we not edit our posts? I just hit my back button.. that didn't work out so well. Sorry!!!

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I don't know how long your ditch actually is. But I would try a little of all of them. If one thing takes over that is OK too. But if you have an interesting mix that is always wonderful. And anything you can get for free by transplanting is very nice as well.
*Edit* Our edit buttons disappeared the last time the forum broke down. But I'm sure that some day they will be returned to us all shiny and new.


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Um, I am not sure how long it is.. I am not good with measurements like that.. but it is the whole front of my property... all roadside. I will hazard a guess and say 200+ feet. But I really don't know. I know it's pretty long. I will definitely have to get some pictures.

And like I said before, there are places where it is much steeper/deeper than others also.. so maybe I should try different things for different areas of it.

Hmm.. yeah, Edit buttons would be awesome! =)

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well, yeah, daylily (aka ditchlily) was the first thing i thought of :) you can certainly throw some of them in as well!

and coneflowers are a nice complement for them. black-eyed susan's too! daisy is another one you could put in that would fit in well with the mix.

you didn't say if the ditch area is sunny or shady? that will make a difference as to what would do best there. although, pretty much everything we've all mentioned will do well with either sunny or shady or a combo.

the forsythia - where is it located now?? they do better when they get a fair amount of shade - so, if it is getting a lot of sun all day, that would be why it's not doing all that well...and if the ditch area is mostly sunny, then it wouldn't do all that well there. could still put it in as it would give a spot of 'different' and would compliment the other stuff.

creeping charlie, really? you like it? well, i have a ton i can send ya !! i can't get rid of it and i absolutely hate it even though it does have purdy purple flowers!

i seriously would not purposely plant it - if it ends up there, that's one thing. it WILL take over and it WILL choke out anything else that growing! sheesh, this stuff even grows through zoisa!! nothing grows through zoisa! if you do put some in, you will have to keep it in check - every couple/three weeks it's going to need some thinning out if you're going to keep it in check.


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The 'ditch'lily is every where around here... except in MY ditch of course. The other stuff you mentioned, Black Eye Susans, Daisies, I LOVE, and the Coneflower.. would those work as a ground cover though? Will they smother everything else? Cause that's what I'm looking for.

The ditchline is full sun. And probably not very good soil.. we have alot of clay.

The Forsythia IS in sun. I wonder if I could move it.. Odd, I am surprised I put it where it is, if I knew it needed shade. Unless I didn't know.. but surely it had a tag on it. I don't know. But I have had it several years and it hasn't grown much.

Creeping Charlie? I LOVE IT! I have it under my cherry tree with rocks.. and it looks awesome. The best part, I didn't put it there.. hehe It put itself there. I also have some in my perennial bed and other areas.. but it isn't all that hard to keep under control. IMO anyway. Maybe I should just stick with the CC and not bother with all this other stuff.. if you really think it would do that well... to choke everything else out. And what is Zosia? =)

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the daylily will naturalize (spread) so all you need is a few handfuls of corms and then plant them randomly and they'll multiple nicely within a couple years.

coneflowers aren't a ground cover, although, they self seed, so you get nice tight clumps that do actually keep other things from growing. very easy to propogate - just get one plant and don't deadhead and when the seed heads are ready, just plant the whole head or you can crumple/shake the seeds out across the area. first year they just grow and the second and subsequent years they bloom. if you can get ripe seed heads early enough, you can get those seeds growing until fall and will probably get blooms the next spring.

once established, they do excellent in sunny & dry conditions. clay soil works well for them. same for bes and daisy!

zoisa is a type of grass. very tight growth pattern and very aggressive (although it is kind of a slow grower). it sends out suckers that will grow under and over stuff like concrete walkways or edgers. and any cracks in the concrete? grows right into it! has a very dense root system that can go pretty deep. nasty stuff and i don't recommend it for zones higher than 4! i have it in my front lawn - and it's getting into the flowerbed and has grown into cracks in the sidewalk - i can't get it out and now can't shovel the snow properly. when i get the sidewalk redone, i'm going to put a barrier in before they pour the concrete!

if you let the cc have it's way, it'll take over the area within a couple years. one year if you clear most of the area before you plant a few starters.


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I am trying hard to think of plants but having horses makes it difficult..alot of the clumping plants are poisonous to them.


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i don't think echinecea is harmful to horses - i could be wrong tho...

it's not so much that it's a clumping plant, it's more a matter of the fact that the ripened seed heads will drop the seeds if jostled (by wind or birds or other creatures) and the seeds fall straight down - they're a bit too heavy to really go flying off in the wind (unless it's very strong) and are not much for rolling away because of getting caught in the leaves of the mother plant. unless a human digs up the plants and splits them, they end up forming a dense clump of numerous plants.


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I don't think Echinacea is poisonous to them...I do know the smoke from this plant is used for distemper in them.

...but I meant plants like Lupine and such. Horses eat an abundant of what they can find..so it makes an owner have to be extra careful. I've heard of horses almost die from poisoning from eating the wilted leaves of red maple trees in Fall.

As a horse owner..it makes me very aware of what I plant close to my fields. thumbup


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