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suggestions for drainage ditch

12 years ago

Hi everyone. I am a total nooby and need a little advice. I live in zone 5 (central Indiana). I have a 6-foot wide strip of yard (my property) between the back of my privacy fence and the back of my rear neighbor's privacy fence. It's probably a good 100 feet long. Mostly it serves as a run-off ditch. It is a major pain to get back there to mow, but I have to keep the height down to satisfy neighborhood regulations.

I'm thinking about replacing the grass and weeds back there with a low native flowering plant that I can just leave alone most of the year, something really maintenance free, something competitive enough to keep grass or weeds from coming back but not so aggressive that it will suddenly start taking over adjoining properties. Maybe something I can mow down in the fall and call it done.

There are currently some black-eyed susans growing back there, so I thought about removing the rest of the grass and weeds while planting a bunch of black-eyed susan seeds. But if the black-eyed susans are likely to creep into other people's yards without regular maintenance, maybe I should use something else instead.

I'm open to suggestions. I guess it just needs to be relatively low, say 24" or less, and pretty hardy to deal with clay-heavy soil and frequent extremes in moisture (it goes from dry to a flowing stream and back again). It gets partial to full sun (it runs east to west but the fence offers some shade).

I'd considered doing a mix of different plants, but I want to keep it simple, not like a wild prairie or something. I go back and forth on the idea of annuals that will self-seed versus perennials. I keep thinking annuals for price and maybe easier to get rid of if this whole experiment turns ugly. But I really am clueless.

Thanks for your advice.

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Comments (4)

JNR71
Original Author
12 years ago
As a follow-up, I should have mentioned that I did search the forums and there are many previous posts about ditches, but they were all the kind of ditches with steep slopes, silt bottoms, roadside, etc, where you could put in some really tall stuff or ditch lilies, wild grasses and reeds. My area is pretty flat and needs something not so invasive and definitely short, more "lawn-like". The more I think about it, 24" is probably pretty tall for what I need, maybe I should look for stuff under 12" if I can. Thanks.
jcalhoun
12 years ago
How about partridge berry?
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A catch basin at the upper end of your ditch might reduce or elliminate sedimentation. It would have to be designed to be deep enough to slow the water down so it will drop particles it is carrying. Once a year or so you will be able to drain and excavate the debris from this spot leaving the rest of your stream much cleaner. The basin can be design tastefully. It is done here in Dallas Texas at several locations where people have dammed up stream beds which the city uses as storm sewers. The debris which is removed from the catch basin can be used as mulch or fill when it dries out.
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Here is an older picture of our yard- it was right after we finished the grading and drainage ditch. In the ditch picture link that was previously posted the stuff to the right is rocks my neighbor put down. He has several trees and a nice planting area. As you can see, when it rains his yard becomes the drain area. We just have the drain tube from the street that comes towards the back of our property. The ditch we installed helps send the water out back. This is a crazy set up but this is what the developer came up with and it was approved by the city. We have had city engineers out, they admit the previous guys should have never approved this, and they have washed their hands of it. We were told to do what we deemed necessary to stop our yard from flooding- without making enemies of course. The ditch can get a large volume of water as you can see but it no longer floods our yard. The ditch is only a foot deep at its lowest point. The small retaining wall in the picture is where the opening of the drain is. We were hiding from our sight. The biggest change was slowing the water flow. The opening of the tube from the street is about 3 feet. That is a lot of water. The opening is filled with bags of quickcrete to slow the water down. We tried sand bags, but during one rain storm it actually shot them out from the drain- quite a sight. From what I gather so far the sedge meadow/ vegetaded swale may be the best alternative. Probably cheaper than ordering more rocks which will get buried again.
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There are lots of ground cover plants around, some of which have got to be worth a try. Have a look in Jim Hole's 'What grows Here?', (ISBN 1-894728-02-05) or Lois Hole's ''Perennial Favourites', (ISBN 1-55105-076-5) for some ideas. Their experience is in the Edmonton area, so their advice is about as northern as garden centres get. I've found their writings very practical. You might also take a walk along local creek banks in the spring for a look at what the native ground covers are, and try something out. You may find an Aboriginal person in your community who could give you advice as well.
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it's diversity that will hold the bank together. so the more kinds of things you can plant there, the better. I'd start at the bottom of the ditch with water-tolerant species like flags, the native daylily species, and I'm sure there's something native to your area that tends to grow at the base of creekbeds. Primrose actually loves to live creekside, so you may be able to get them to adapt to the 'run-off' lifestyle. woodland phlox as well as the creeping form make good plants for naturalizing, and Lamium is a plant I never fail to plug- it goes from near full sun to pretty deep shade, and the silver and green foliage is always attractive. I'd put in more berry-bearing bushes...blueberries if your ground will support them (acidic soil is a must for them) or check for native species... http://www.tneppc.org/ this also has a list of things that your local aggies wish you would avoid, since they're better suited to the area than the natives.
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paulsiu
12 years ago
If the ditch gets filled with water regularly, cardinal plants and great blue lobelia have been one of the plants that survived being underwater for a few days. Both are fairly hardy.

Siberian iris are also likely to be hardy and probably work in a ditch, too.

Paul
jemdandy
12 years ago
Ground ivy (AKA creeping charlie) would cover the ground and stop erossion, and is s short compact plant. It can stand lots of water for short periods and is very dought resistant. But this stuff is the "Kudzu of the north"; Don't even consider it. It is invasive and almost impossible to eradicate.

If the ditch drains well and has no standing pools of water, try turing it into a bed of day lillies. Start by planting two rows the length of the ditch. Place the rows at aproximately 1/3 width of the ditch. The initial planting dos not have to be dense. A spacing of 6 inches or more between plants is sufficient. Within a few years, the lillies will multiply and spread across the entire ditch. For variety, plant more than one kind of lilly, maybe a few iris as well. Standard iris is about 2 ft tall, but there are dwarf varieties available. If you can find a source of wild wood iris, a few of these would be nice. It is a protected plant, so don't go diggin them up in the wild. The day lilly ranges from 18 to 24 inches tall with longer flower stems.

Lillies are easily contained by mowing or an edging. if you decide you don't like them, they can be killed by keeping them mowed over three years. After the bed is established, it will require thining to maintain flowering. However, you can let the bed go if flowering is not a prime objective. They will become crowded and not much of anything else can grow in the bed.

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