Where I live we have ditches too. We are lucky and get no runoff so ours is shallow and we can mow it and the water never stays in it. Others in town where they do get runoff are steep like yours and mostly they are a lot deeper than mine.

I do know someone who did just what you want to do, but her ditch was shallow like mine, she had no standing water in it even in spring and the city never dug out her ditch because there were no obstructions in it. and she planted with low growing plants.

The problem with yours is that you have standing water in it so at sometime it must hold more water or drainage is not good. You also said they had just dredged it, wouldn't that remove anything you planted there.

I don't know what your solution could be. Maybe someone in your area can help

Thanks for your post. In terms of dredging the ditch... hopefully they won't have to dredge it again! My home is new so I think run-off from the land before the grass came in factored in to why they needed to dregde it this time (that and my complaining :)

OK If you want to try it then go for it. It would take a lot of plants to do it all at once. I'd start on the top near your lawn and gradually work your way down as the plants grow and can be seprated and spread further down and up the other side. this might mean pulling a few weeds later on. She put in creeping phlox, Portulaca and that reseeds itself quite well, thyme, creeping babies breath, dianthus. She put creeping jenny in the shadier spots. She also kept an eye out for low growing wild flowers and she dug them out or saved seed and stuck them in too. It did take a bit of weeding but any weeds that were low growing she left.

If you have a place that sells native wildflowers you might find something there too.
Good luck

I just posted and don't see it here. Not sure what that about but in my post I said that my ideal was something invasive so the weeds wouldn't have a chance. I need to qualify that. I would not want somehting so invasive that it would move uncontrolably into my neighbour's yard or be otherwise unfriendly to the local environment. I guess fast growing is what I mean (or is that synonimous to invasive!)

We used to have a ditch garden on our first property. We used it for perennials we liked, but were too aggressive to get along well in a perennial border with their neighbours. The bottom of the ditch was often wet.
The ditch was filled with ribbon grass, fireweed, and the orange daylily that grows at the side of many roads. There were many other plants in there too.
Many visitors to our gardens named it their favourite garden because of the riot of color.

I just posted and don't see it here. Not sure what that about but in my post I said that my ideal was something invasive so the weeds wouldn't have a chance. I need to qualify that. I would not want somehting so invasive that it would move uncontrolably into my neighbour's yard or be otherwise unfriendly to the local environment. I guess fast growing is what I mean (or is that synonimous to invasive!)

Perfect place for a Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum).

A popular cultivar in eastern Canada is T.d. 'Peve Minaret'.
Another nice one (small bush) is T.d. 'Secrest'.

What kind of soil do you have? Is it sandy or clay? I live in Southern Ontario and the most common plant one sees growing in the ditches around here is the "common ditch daylily" Hemerocallis fulva. Many of the other vigorous daylilies would grow well there too and keep the weeds at bay. Lemon daylily, Kwanso daylily (the double orange one), Hyperion, Mary Todd (yellow), or Purple Waters are a few you could try. You could throw in a few clumps of daffodils (bulbs) as long as they were kept above any standing water, preferably near the top of the ditch. Some native grasses such as the reddish or blue-leaved Panic grasses would be vigorous in that location. Most of these grow 3-4 ft. tall. You will need something that you can weed around if necessary and/or that can out-compete the wild grasses and weeds whose seeds are sure to land there, dropped by birds or wind, etc.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I didn't even think of day lilies (which I love). I do think keeping the wild grasses/weeds at bay are a consideration. I don't mind some weeding but would like to keep this as carefree as possible. Also, all the lawns around have neatly mowed grass so I don't think anything too wild looking would fit. Neat is important.

OntNative: I apologize. I forgot to say that I have clay soil and little topsoil. I am working on that (compost, lime, fertilizer).

Jaro: I've never heard of "T.d. 'Secrest'" and google didn't help. Is there another name?

You're right -- there aren't very many photos of Secrest on the internet.
Here's a few I found....

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....the last one is a regular T.d., but it includes a nice close-up of the foliage.

I would post a photo of mine, but its still a very small plant... Maybe in a couple of years.

The seacrest is beautiful. I love the foliage. Can you tell me more about it? Size, growth rate, how it does in the winter? I'm in PEI and I forget off-hand what the zone is... 5?

I tried finding these details on the sites you listed (and this site) but am not having any luck :( Having an internet-challenged day I guess.

Thanks!

I think you will find all the information you're looking for at this ACS web page:

http://www.coniferbase.com/conifer_db/detail.php?ref_id=104612

....there is also a few more photos -- including one in late fall, when the foliage turns a bright rust color, shortly before falling off (i.e. Baldcypress is a deciduous plant)

PS. You can find the Plant Hardiness Zones of Canada 2000 maps here.
Most of PEI is a zone 5b, so no problem.

I think all of you are forgetting the purpose for having a ditch in the first place. It is for water run off to pass through. Planting a tree in a ditch although it is a lovely tree,is a sure way to have them dredge the ditch and bye bye tree.

before anyone gets carried away about planting in ditches, find out from your local municipalities on what is permitted. As far as I know, any plants that will obstruct the flow of water would be considered obstructive and you will be asked to remove them or have them do it at your expense.

Ianna

I'm not thinking of the seacrest in the ditch actually... it's pretty (the seacrest, definitely NOT the ditch!) and I want to keep it in mind for other areas of my yard. I am thinking now about ribbon grass, day lilies, and cover like creeping flox and the ones you mentioned. I am going to start at the top and move downwards. I was just looking at the ditch now, after a rain. It is soggy so I can't mow it and will need to hire someone to take a weed wacker to it to keep the field grass down. I'll be collecting lots of daylilly bulbs this fall.

I actually like the 'Peve Minaret' Baldcypress better -- the leaves don't curl like on the 'Secrest', and the whole plant has a very unique growth habit.... No doubt, that's why you are more likely to find them at your local nursery.

Here's a photo of mine, from 14 Nov. of last year:

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....this particular one comes from Whistling Gardens in southern Ontario.

Thanks ianna for pointing that out... I completely did not think about that.

That Peve Minaret is absolutely beautiful. Absolutely.
I am making a note of it in my wish book.

Thanks everyone for all your help.

Turned out this afternoon was pretty good for taking photos...

T.d. 'Peve Minaret'
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A fairly closely-related species is Metasequoia glyptostroboides (or Dawn Redwood).
A very popular cultivar -- one that you find readily in the better nurseries -- is M.g. 'Gold Rush'

Here's a photo of mine, taken this afternoon.
If you look closely, there are three small cones near the top -- the first for this plant.
At young age, T.d. and M.g. look very similar, particularly in the leaf form.
But note that those of M.g. are opposed on the branch, while those of T.d. are staggered....

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Good lord, those are beautiful images. Thank you. I love the light--bright--sunshine-full--etc etc etc. Happy-beautiful.