I want to invade a bank, need suggestions...

No, I don’t mean the kind of bank that holds money. LOL! I want to invade the bank beside my driveway, I’ve been working on it for a couple of years now and I would love to make an invasive plant mistake on it. The soil is very poor (red clay), gets full sun and we couldn’t even get grass to grow there until I planted some yellow bells and assorted daylilies. Both are surviving but are growing/spreading very little & wouldn’t ya know it, now grass has decided that it wants to grow. I’m looking for something that spreads quickly but I want to stay away from vines. It’s a fairly large bank so I want to avoid spending any money due to the economy being so bad. I may just continue dividing daylilies and sticking them up there. Suggestions anyone?

How steep is your bank and what kind of sun does it get?

Full sun and it's more of an incline / hill than steep.

I would think of putting some butterfly bushes in there and maybe a bunch of small inexpensive azaleas. The azaleas will grow in nicely after a couple of years. The butterfly bushes will send up new ones and help fill in quickly.
You can also throw in some annuals flowers that will reseed each year. That would give it a nice bang of color and the butterflies and birds will love you.

chris

Here's a list of native plants for NC: http://www.ncwildflower.org/natives/recommend.htm

If you choose ones suitable for the conditions on your bank they should thrive with minimal care. You may be able to get seeds for free from local wild spaces (get permission if on someone else's property and take only a small % of the seeds, and none from rare plants).

What you need is a creeping groundcover and there are several types. Such as:

Creeping Sedum and upright Sedum
Sempervivum (Hen and chicks)
Delosperma (Ice plant)
Euphorbia myrsinites (Spurge)

Why not make a rock garden there with different varieties of succulents to grow around rocks. All are hardy in your area. They don't need much water and love full sun and not fussy about soil. Delosperma does need well drained soil but you can mix sand in the planting hole.

These plants propagate easily by cuttings. They also bloom. Creepers bloom in June, some of the uprights bloom late summer through fall. Together they give a nice contrast to a planting.

Sempervivums don't creep, but do spread by offsets.

Spurge don't creep but selfsows readily and blooms early spring.

Caption: Delosperma cooperi, often called the Red Iceplant. Readily available in garden centers. This one blooms from June to frost in my zone 4.

Here is an example of a creeping Sedum (S. spurium). This one blooms in June with white flowers. Others in this species have pink, or yellow blooms. Fast spreader once it gets started. A branch stuck in soil will root easily to forma a new plant.

It is growing in a raised bed and just grew downwards like a waterfall.

Here is an example of an upright Sedum (Sedum 'Matrona) a late summer through fall bloomer. Grows to 2ft tall.

blomma,
Have you grown sedum on a steep dry bank? I have a two very steep banks I need to cover with something besides weeds :-}

Low growing junipers would do a great job. I have used them on a hill with excellent results. If you plant at the right distance they will grow together and you will never have to weed. Sun or shade, in poor soil, etc. they require little or no maintenance.

Try Wave Petunias from Lowes. It spreads like crazy has pretty pink blooms and YOU CAN'T KILL THE STUFF!!!!!!!!!!! I know, I have been trying to kill it for 5 or 6 years now.

NatureLover1950
Personally I have not. However, my daughter and son-in-law own a ranch out of town in what once was virgin prairie land. The soil is nothing but pure sand where she has her garden. It also extremely windy, to put it mildly. In order for the sand not to undercut the foundation, my son-in-law put down a lot of large rock, then covered them with soil/sand. It is raised up like a slope with a container wall of railroad ties from Home Depot. Lowest point is 2 ft, slanting upward to 3 or 4 ft against the foundation. There is also a lot of alkaline in their well water, which forms a crust on top of the soil when it dries.

Her "good" plants get humus in the planting hole. They own horses so manure is easy to get. She can't even mulch the plants with bark because it blows away. They built the house 4 years ago and moved up 3 years ago from town living. She has spent the last 3 years planting and experimenting to see what grows there. I provide her with all the plants since I'm into sowing seeds. There are no trees so no shade. She has been trying to establish those also. In town where I live my zone is 4. Where she lives 16 miles away and higher up, her growing zone is not quite 4. Winter winds keep it that way. Even the snow blows off.

Wyoming is semi arid where we live, about 10" of moisture year---if we are lucky. Plants have to hardy and drought resistant. Of all the varieties of perennial plants she has planted the following have done the best in this harsh condition:
Salvia in variety
Delosperma (Iceplants)
Penstemon in varitey
Sedums, all those that are hardy
Sempervivum tectorum, (common hen and chicks).
Callirhoe involucrata (Wine Cups)
Euphorbia polychroma, and myrsinites
Scabiosa
Liatris spicata
Oenothera (Evening Primrose)
Centaurea macrocephala
Gaillardia (Blanket Flower)
Cerastium alpinus (dwarf Snow-in-Summer)
Gypsohila repens (Creeping Baby's Breath)

Inbetween plants, creeping sedum is starting to spread and hold the soil/sand from blowing.

Caption: Gaillardias growing against her house in July. Notice how dry the soil/sand is.