Native plants are a wonderful option. I have re-vegged many sites for work and am contemplating founding a new religion to revere Distichlis spicata (salt grass) it is a low growing, spreading native grass, with an excellant root structure to assist with erosion control. Low water requirements and low maintenance make it ideal for S. California slopes and I can get it to grow in the most tempermental of soils….
I like to remind people that there are some absolutely wonderful natives that can flourish in your backyard gardens. Tree of life nursery has a wonderful web site
follow the link to see what attracts hummingbirds and you will see some great recomendations for flowers. Native plants typically have a deeper root structure (think tap roots trying to find the water table); therefore, tend to do a much better job at stabilizing slopes.
Ice plant is an incidious invasive plant brought in by Caltrans years ago to attempt to stabilize highway slopes and medians. The reality is that it does not have a very stable root structure (very shallow) and a lot of its erosive protection is in the ability for water going over the top. It is NOT considered a beneficial plant in the world of erosion control. I am hoping that California will place it on the invasive plant list and ban the sale of it (along with pampas grass) another great website to look at is the invasive plant council Don’t Plant A Pest program which list the invasive “pests” and offers some good alternatives.
