Re: plant suggestion to stem bank erosion

At 04:45 AM 2/22/99 -0800, Richard Starkeson wrote:
Down here in santa clara county, the plants I see growing in such
situations in the wild are Umbellularia californica, Aesculus
californica, (Buckeye) and our native Platanus whatever it is.
The Buckeye is pretty fast. I don't think Arbutus (neither madarone 
nor the european sort) would like it quite that wet or dark.
Natively, the 'hebaceous perrennial' cover on such situations is
pretty much non-existent. I think the relatively small trees I
mentioned might be a pretty good comprimise between the Sequoia
sempervirens  monsters and the perrenials. I think your friend will
need pretty substantial plant in this situation - or perhaps some
concrete is in order.



>Does anyone know of any plants that would be fast to establish
>themselves and good at holding soil (gravely clay) on a vertical bank? 
>I recently  visited a friend's place in Sonoma county, California, who
>asked my advice about a problem with stream erosion next to his access
>road.  There is a 12 foot (3 meter) perfectly vertical stream bank that
>is gradually eroding at the top, which will eventually wash away the
>road. It is in deep shade most of the day, and it is a year round
>stream, although not large.  There are a few redwoods (Sequoia
>sempirvirens) growing in the vicinity.  I know redwoods would grow
>there, but am concerned that if the bank were further undermined
>(eventually it has to be, even though the erosion is very gradual, since
>it is at the outside of a slight meander) the redwood, when it toppled,
>would pull a very large chunk of the top of the bank with it.  I have
>seen madrones (Arbutus menziesii) growing on vertical banks, with roots
>apparently growing down the surface of the bank, but I wonder that they
>might take a very long time to establish themselves.  I have also seen
>Paulownias growing along streamsides with massive surface roots.  This
>is a climate of heavy winter rains, moderate frosts in winter (28 F),
>and little rain from late spring through fall.  There is obviously water
>at stream level, but, being 12 feet below, it would take any plant's
>roots some time to grow to reach it.  Does anyone have any experience
>with these or other trees in such a situation?  Are there any perennial
>herbaceous plants that would grow in the vertical clay stream bank? 
>Someone once mentioned Hypericum as a bank erosion control (do not know
>which species), but I wonder if it would do well in such deep shade.
>
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