Your final result will depend a lot on what type of rock you can find and place. The stone should be big enough and stable enough when placed to withstand the stream. If you can get a backhoe or something similar to place big (3' or more) stones, just work from the bottom up with enough slope that it will be stable. Smaller stones can be placed by hand. If the stream has a lot of seasonal variation, it will deposit sediment in the cracks by itself. If you can only hand place stones, you are going to have to make sure the material they are placed on is stable. Think of it this way: the bigger the particles, the more likely that they will stay in place. Big rocks are better than small rocks, which are better than gravel, better than sand, better than silt better than clay. Reinforcement is great if you can work it into the rock (geo fabric, rebar, wire fencing, chicken wire). Plant material is the last and easiest, but you need a bank that is going to stay in place first, especially so close to your foundation.

Thank-you people! We now have a fairly long dry creek which needs to handle a high volume of water. It has two levels - water comes in from the top and is "visual" and then directly under this is a hidden french drain - they all drain into a dry pond which will be filled with moisture loving native plants to clean the ground water - then it all goes back into a pipe and down the way. There are also funky tributaries to our dry creek to handle all the water coming down the bank, a few more areas need to be incorporated. It was made by the contractors and we just used rip rap but I will also add in my concrete "chunks" and the few nice found rocks the contractors dug up while grading. Eduarda, thanks for that article! It's perfect. Essentially I want mine to look like a cross between Cameron's beautiful dry creek and the Fine Gardening dry creek. Cameron, I will need to get some ideas from you about the native grasses you planted in here. Luckily I will have the ability, if necessary to "reverse" the flow of water from stored water back into the dry creek to keep everything moist. A pump and an underground water line that runs back up to the "front" of the stream will do the trick. So far our "project" is shaping up very well. A few more things need to happen before the patios go in - more retaining walls and drainage. I've got a LOT of planting to do these next few years. I have a feeling winter sowing will be my best friend!

Stahlmaster, your little creek is beautiful. I think Cotoneaster would look great draping over your bank. We have a dry creek running through our property but ours is dry most of the year. We have large trees with exposed roots which we don't want to damage. Since we've cleared out some of the under growth we now have ferns there. Some other things I want to try are Galtheria procumbens (winterberry), Galex urceolata, Sweet flag, Iris ensata, and cornus canadensis if I can find it. Doing research on things that won't take over. No ivy or Chameleon plant!!!! Good luck. Would love to hear what you decide to plant.

It's tansy or golden buttons, Tanacetum vulgare.