Please recommend shrubs to plant on a rocky hill

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Nardar Rochester, NY(Zone 6a) Nov 17, 2014

We've had to cut down a number of trees on a slope next to our Adirondack camp in order to improve air circulation and increase sunlight. The problem is that now the slope is starting to erode. What might be some deer-proof shrubs we could plant that will have good root systems yet won't get too tall?

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Mipii (Robin) Blissfield, MI(Zone 6a) Nov 17, 2014

Here's a good link for your consideration Nardar...
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/visual-guides/ps-plants-for-erosion-control-trees-and-shrubs.aspx

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ViburnumValley Scott County, KY(Zone 5b) Nov 18, 2014

You have inadvertantly become an object lesson for planning a landscape.

Perhaps an image or three of the site would assist those that might assist. Tell us what species remain, what was removed, etc. - so that we may get an idea of what new plants might need to associate with. That will also indicate soil qualities, unless you already can provide that information. Rocky can mean a lot of things, from talus slope to gravel quarry to glacial moraine.

"...yet won't get too tall..." always makes me chuckle. For my spouse, that could mean dwarf conifers; for me, Sequoia sempervirens. Put a number on it...

Regardless of what you choose in the woody plants category, since you are already experiencing soil erosion - you will continue to experience such erosion until new woody plants are well-established and can colonize the present soil with their roots. That doesn't happen overnight, and in the conditions you alluded to that might take years. You should seriously consider some "cover crop" of an annual grass (or the like) that can be eliminated once the situation stabilizes. Annual rye is a common species used for this purpose.

Mipii has provided a link from a prestigious institution, but you might better consider information from a nearer locale, like Cornell University and its Cornell Plantations. Any of SUNY campuses from upstate NY locations - especially ones with agricultural, horticultural, or forestry programs - would likely have a wealth of spot-on plant lists for the specifics of what you are trying to solve, as well as a forum for asking these kinds of questions. Cobleskill and the ESF program at Syracuse are excellent resources.

With no more information than you've given, I'd suggest NOT cutting any more live plants till you get new thriving additions. A cover crop of wood chips, leaf litter, and/or compost will help deflect rainfall-caused erosion in the very short term since it is already winter, and broadcasting an annual grass crop like winter wheat or annual rye when it is likely to germinate should get some roots into whatever soil you still have. Then get about putting in woody plants next spring. Things like Comptonia peregrina, Rhus sp., Viburnum sp., and shrubby Cornus sp. will certainly be among appropriate species that you may consider in this altered landscape.

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