Ground cover for a rocky, clay slope with some erosion.

by Kim
(Camdenton, Missouri USA)

Doug,
I hope you can help me find a fast growing ground cover for my very infrequently traversed backyard. I live in Missouri(zone 5 I believe)on a second tier lot overlooking a lake. This backyard could never be mowed as it is quite a slope to the edge. There are a few houses below us separated by a paved access road. I have been clearing the vegetation away, which had gotten quite unruly. The property seems to have been cut into to provide this road for the residents below us. It really could use a retaining wall, but that would be about $30,000 that we would be hard pressed to come up with. The property is very rocky with what appears to be a lot of clay. We've had to clean up some rocks from the road after a big rain with the erosion. I don't mind the look of ivy, but I worry that it would invade the road below. I'd like something that would trail over that area which the neighbors have to look at and that would help with the erosion. I had crown vetch suggested to me, but I'm fearful that it will run rampant. I'd also prefer something that would just trail over the rocks that protrude from the hill we live on. I prefer a lower height in the cover, but I can handle those to a foot or so. It's also quite a large area to cover which makes seed appealing. Thanks for your attention to this matter and I hope to hear from you soon.
Kim

Doug says you're creating a ton of conditions that make it quite difficult to help. You want permanent, seedable, clay soil, inexpensive, trailing over rocks, look.

Crown vetch is indeed one option - but you're right, it in extremely invasive.

Ivy is another but you can't seed it and it too is invasive in your area.

Note that all ground covers are by definition - covering the ground and hence invasive. You can't have good, fast ground cover in one area and then say "stop right there" to a plant.

I've always liked daylilies for this kind of area. tough to kill - middling expensive but not invasive. Fairly fast to establish and will hold a bank well.

Lamium and Vinca are traditional covers that are a bit slower to be an invasive problem but will hold just about any bank.

And then you have some shrub covers - you can use things like spreading Junipers to good advantage here and some are wonderful trailers (Japanese creeping Juniper) over rocks.

Low growing flowering deciduous plants are also a possibility - there are some really good trailing forms that would hold a bank. Check out a good garden center or two for what is available locally (not the big box stores - they do "normal") :-)

So - bottom line. I don't have a suggestion for low-cost, non-invasive ground cover (not sure there is such a thing) but the suggestions above would be my choices if I had the problem.

Do check out the ground cover page