Need help choosing a crawling plant

Discussion in 'Trees, Shrubs and Roses' started by littlelake, Jun 1, 2006.

  1. littlelake

    littlelake New Seed

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    I have a stone retaining wall we just finished. We want to have something green to crawl it, not just for looks, but to help strengthen the wall as well. At the bottom of the wall is our lawn, and on top of the wall we have 2 quakey aspens. So I want something that will not grow into my lawn, and will not choke my trees. Something that will not grow beyond our control. You know...we want to be able to choose where it decides to grow. Basically I dont want to be posting here in a year that I can't get rid of something that we should not have planted. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I have called 4 nurseries and they all contradict each other so far. Thanks so much!
     
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  3. eileen

    eileen Resident Taxonomist Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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  4. Pinkiered

    Pinkiered The Rose Queen

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    I was talking to my mom and she said that my uncle in Indiana needed something to plant against the side of a bare hill and he planted three types of crawling plants

    Purple Leaf Winter Creeper or Euonymus fortunei 'Colorata'

    Green Carpet or Houttuynia calycinum

    And Moneywort or Lysimachia nummularia

    He said that its a great combo because the Purple leaf turns dark purple in the winter giving it some color and you can walk on the Green Carpet and the Moneywort blooms in the summer..covering the hill in yellow highly scented flowers.

    I know you are looking for something to plant forthe wall. I thought that since he used these plants to strengthen the hill (when it rained hard or the snow melted, pieces of the hill would slid), that maybe you could try something like that on the wall to strengthen it.

    Keep us updated!
     
  5. Crazy Orchid Lady

    Crazy Orchid Lady Seedling

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  6. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    I know everybody does it, but sedum does do well in retaining walls. I just put some in my little bitty retaining wall.
    [​IMG]

    As far as a hill goes, I've got coral bells & ajuga on mine. My hill is still there, when it used to erode, so it must be working. Sweet woodruff might be nice, and it spreads relatively quickly. It flowers white in the spring, and has nice greenery. Mine is thriving in part-shade, not sure if it would make it in full sun, probably not.
    [​IMG]

    I've also become very fond of Rock Soapwort. Mine looked so nice this year.
    [​IMG]
     

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