What to do with gully in yard

[bogart]

So, our back yard has a gully.  It's been there for years (as have we), reasonably deep (probably 6') and wide (10'?) for most of its 40-yard length.  It's an active "waterway" in the sense that our yard and the neighbor's drain into it, but although water will "flow" through it (at a depth of maybe 1/2") when things are really, really, really wet, it's not really a body of water most of the time.

It has lousy soil (natural to our area), partial shade, and is (in its current form) more or less useless and aesthetically unpleasing (though not offensive).  It's pretty steady state -- like anything, it experiences some minimal erosion, but it's not changing rapidly.  It's mostly full of smallish brushy plants/shrubs and what I call "bamboo grass" (grass, looks like bamboo, grows to maybe 3' in the summer, very invasive).  It seems like something one could actually do something really cool with (landscaping-wise) if one had a clue, but I don't, so I'm posting to ask for ideas.

I don't want to spend much money.  I don't want to make major changes to the gully's natural form (e.g. try to level or smooth it).  Besides the other obstacles mentioned, we have lots of deer (which eat lots of different kinds of plants) and our area's prone to drought.  So I could plant things there, but would have to be strategic about what.  Or I could do something with rocks.  Or both.

If I were going to do something with/to the gully, now (while the 'bamboo grass' is dead or at least dormant) would be the time.  Any suggestions?

[MasterStache]

Dry creek bed perhaps? I've created 2 dry creek beds and they were both very aesthetically pleasing, easy to build and easy to maintain. You could create some landscape along the banks as well.

[lthenderson]

The best thing is to do some research for your zone and state and figure out what plants are native to that area and conditions that they like to grow. When you plant stuff native to your area and in the environment they thrive, I find it is a lot less work on your part.

[bogart]

Thanks!  Yes, I've seen dry creek beds but didn't know that is what they are called (see:  novice).  So now that I know the name, that is helpful -- I can look @ google images and get some ideas.  One issue is that we sometimes use the bottom of the gully as a path, so need to think carefully about the rocks, but some carefully placed largish flat ones may work (not a total no-brainer, as humidity etc. around here can cause things to grow a slippery coating, but one idea).  And yes, on the native plants -- though we've already got plenty of those (the bamboo grass, but also some bushes and vines of various sorts), so it's  matter of what to prune/uproot and what to add.  Certainly sticking with what will grow here unattended (and uneaten) is worth paying attention to.

[Poundwise]

Maybe what they call a "rain garden"? I was thinking about making one in our yard and saved the following links:
http://nemo.uconn.edu/raingardens/installation.htm
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,20517496,00.html

[trachma]

The best thing is to do some research for your zone and state and figure out what plants are native to that area and conditions that they like to grow. When you plant stuff native to your area and in the environment they thrive, I find it is a lot less work on your part.

This is totally true. Can you share where you live? I live near very near the ocean, so my first thought was to get native salt marsh rushes and wlldflowers in there as a habitat for birds, but that would be out of place in, say Nebraska.

The nice thing about the rushes as that they’re so tall you’ll still seem them over the top of your gully, which will be pretty and serve to mark the location so no one goes running into a giant hole. On the other hand, you hit a foul ball into that and it’ll be hard to find!

[Sibley]

If you want to go with native plants, sometimes there's a local Agg extension or similar that can help determine what would work best.

Your best bet may be to plant something that's taller to help block the view of the gully, and just leave it there. I've found that if there's a gully, there's a good reason for it, and if you do something like fill it in, it may cause water drainage issues in a heavy storm.

[bogart]

Hi, everyone,

Not sure a rain garden would work (see:  drought-prone)  but it's possible I can apply some aspects of that to the top of the gully (the most reliable wet section).

I'm outside Atlanta -- not coastal, though plenty of tall grasses work here (if they get enough light -- another possible issue.  We have lots of large pine trees that I want to take out but don't want to pay to take out and can't do safely as a DIY).  But I don't actually want either to hide the gully or to make it inaccessible (as described above, we actually use it as part of a walking path -- walk in at the mouth and out at the delta).  So some of those might be useful in selective spots but not throughout.  And definitely not trying to fill the gully in because as @sibley notes -- presumably won't work; gully is a gully for a reason!

Anyway, thanks to all, I do think this gives me some starting ideas.  The gully's been more or less as is for literally decades and isn't offending anyone, so it's not like this is an emergency but I do think there's some room for improvement!

[Frugal Lizard]

I would check out some images from rock gardens - such as the gardens in Kyoto.  Make a few changes to the surface treatments so that you can still walk through the space but think about what is the essence of the space and improve on it.  A few stepping stones, steps and carefully chosen native plants that enclose space or mark an entrance or exit transform it into a garden room.  Moss gardens are gorgeous.  Pruning the pines so that you can walk under some of them, planting in front of them in more light or finding interesting logs, rocks or branches and making large scale compositions with them and adding a bench or a bird bath can make this a place to escape heat to or provide shelter for birds. Gully no longer, unique place in a garden.

[Vertical Mode]

My advice would be: look before you leap. Even intermittent streams and/or ephemeral channels (sounds like it might be classified as one of those) may have restrictions or setbacks associated with them per your local environmental agencies. You may find that you need a permit to do any significant alteration near waterways, no matter how innocent-looking and even if they rarely have water in them. As long as what you're doing does not alter the course of the stream, significantly impact drainage patterns, or introduce pollution into the watershed, you will likely be fine. In fact, reintroducing native vegetation is something environmental agencies usually want to do more of, so they may even appreciate your initiative.

A member of our Association recently discovered that a lot on which they were going to build their home was almost totally unbuildable because it was determined during the survey that it was technically a wetland. Rather unexpected near the top of a hill, but so it goes - local government agencies can and will be sticklers about the rules when it comes to protecting natural systems.

Your description of the invasive planting sounds rather like Japanese Knotweed - is it this stuff? If so, you may need a specialist if you are serious about eradicating it because it can be extremely difficult and require highly toxic selective herbicides (when I say "highly toxic", I mean that they can literally kill you first if you don't handle them correctly. You might also have luck if you target them with high-intensity salt at the base, I know MassDOT does this).



If it turns out that you need special permission from a regulatory agency to improve the area around this stream, you are more likely to get a positive response if you highlight the fact that you will be removing invasives like this in the course of your work. IIRC, it was brought in from Japan to stabilize and recolonize strip mines in coal country up in PA, and apparently coal dirt is the only place this stuff doesn't grow like gangbusters.

As far as design ideas go: large landscape stone, riverstone, and low plantings/grasses can be used to great effect. There are many different takes on landscapes shaped by water passage, whether they be mountain streams, Japanese gardens, etc. Find one that inspires you!

Here are some resources for searching for native plants from your region:

http://gnps.org/

http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=B987

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ga/plantsanimals/?cid=nrcseprd656406

Hope this is helpful. Cheers!

-VM

[Poundwise]

Re: Japanese knotweed, I've heard that it's edible! If that's what you have, you can add to your bottom line by cooking it!
http://www.eattheweeds.com/japanese-knotweed-dreadable-edible/

[bogart]

Thanks all.  So I dug around on the internet, it looks like the plant (mostly) there (and lots of other places too) now is called Japanese grass.  Annoying, pervasive, and hard to get rid of, but not dreadful and doesn't (I don't think) require horrible toxins to kill -- however, in case it's not already apparent, we're pretty laissez-faire (understatement) and this grass really is all over the place in our area.  I'm game to do stuff that reduces its prevalence in the yard (rocks, mulch), but not likely to put in the effort to get rid of all of it (yes, I realize that means this will be an ongoing issue -- but it probably would anyway, as it's also in lots surrounding ours, and, again, we've survived ~2 decades together, what are a few more?).

The rock garden/Japanese garden suggestions are good ones, I'll look into those.  Thanks for the native plant links!  And fair point on the stream -- I'm not intending (or wanting) to do anything to it that would alter its flow or pollute it, and given its tiny size and our rural-ish location, the likelihood of anyone even noticing that I've made any changes at all are slim, so I don't think that's a concern.

On a positive note, no pine branches causing problems -- these are big, big pines (100' plus) and the branches are way up high.

[Gibbelstein]

Not sure a rain garden would work (see:  drought-prone)  but it's possible I can apply some aspects of that to the top of the gully (the most reliable wet section).

Just for one more perspective, we are considering rain gardens because of a drought prone climate (Southern CA).  Letting the water sit in place and soak in slowly allows it to be retained rather than run off, and filling it with appropriate plants can make it look more attractive and (apparently) help "filter" the water as well as making it look better. I think most rain gardens are empty most of the time.