Hi Alison, I sent some images by PM of the materials used but for some reason I couldn't send images of the bank itself so have added them here. I guess the message format has some size limitations just like the main forum even though I opened up a new message(?). Anyway...
Images of the bank below. Various planting of Vinca major and minor. Seem happy to grow anywhere and give good cover. The 'major' can look a bit untidy so they can be cut back late winter / early spring then they come back looking much better
Thanks for pics and product info Dave. Although you can clearly see the netting, i think it looks good! Huge improvement on just weed fabric. Slopes are a real problem, so well done for coming up with a solution.
I have two very steep banks in my garden. Geranium macrorrhizum will give you good ground cover. Other things that run and root and that will help stabilise the bank include Lysimachia punctata, Persicaria amplexicaulis and Hypericum.calycinum.
One bank is round the pond and is partly an earth and rock dam and this is mainly held in place by the Persicaria (mine is Taurus) and the Lysimachia with Alchemilla mollis. The ducks tend to undermine it and the other part is less rocky, so more vulnerable. To keep the ducks away, I plan to add some green plastic coated netting, with the posts at the angle of slope, and extend the planting with the plants above. It can be tidied up in early spring aand then left to get on with it.
The other bank has no netting, but a few large rocks added, just to give me some kind of foothold, and has Cotoneaster horizontalis and Rosa Max Graf, which between them leave little room for competition. Rosebay willow herb grows wild here and does manage to grow between the stems, but I don't mind, as it is a good stabiliser, and I leave the roots to do their thing and just take off the flowering stems where I don't want them. I have some Hypericum and Potentilla fruticosa to add this year and the soil movement that occurs is generally only when the hens find a place to get on there and make a dust bath!
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This might help. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=215
Im going to message dave humby see if we can get more info.
Hi Alison, I sent some images by PM of the materials used but for some reason I couldn't send images of the bank itself so have added them here. I guess the message format has some size limitations just like the main forum even though I opened up a new message(?). Anyway...
Images of the bank below. Various planting of Vinca major and minor. Seem happy to grow anywhere and give good cover. The 'major' can look a bit untidy so they can be cut back late winter / early spring then they come back looking much better
Thanks for pics and product info Dave. Although you can clearly see the netting, i think it looks good! Huge improvement on just weed fabric. Slopes are a real problem, so well done for coming up with a solution.
Hi Alison, it's not so obvious from straight-on. I think the sun has exaggerated the netting.
I have two very steep banks in my garden. Geranium macrorrhizum will give you good ground cover. Other things that run and root and that will help stabilise the bank include Lysimachia punctata, Persicaria amplexicaulis and Hypericum.calycinum.
One bank is round the pond and is partly an earth and rock dam and this is mainly held in place by the Persicaria (mine is Taurus) and the Lysimachia with Alchemilla mollis. The ducks tend to undermine it and the other part is less rocky, so more vulnerable. To keep the ducks away, I plan to add some green plastic coated netting, with the posts at the angle of slope, and extend the planting with the plants above. It can be tidied up in early spring aand then left to get on with it.
The other bank has no netting, but a few large rocks added, just to give me some kind of foothold, and has Cotoneaster horizontalis and Rosa Max Graf, which between them leave little room for competition. Rosebay willow herb grows wild here and does manage to grow between the stems, but I don't mind, as it is a good stabiliser, and I leave the roots to do their thing and just take off the flowering stems where I don't want them. I have some Hypericum and Potentilla fruticosa to add this year and the soil movement that occurs is generally only when the hens find a place to get on there and make a dust bath!
Some nice plants bcd thanks for suggestions. I suspect its a bit dry for some of them in this position.