Thank you Carrie for sharing this on the listserve, another great example of why iceplant is horrible:"Here's an area previously covered with iceplant. During rainstorms, iceplant notoriously inflates like a water balloon, the extra weight pulls the loosened soil down the hill with it, causing a mudslide. This mudslide traveled more than 100 feet down the hill. A few more of these, and the city will be replacing the guardrail, sidewalk, and street. West-facing slope of 30th Street, north of Laurel. BTW, no mudslides were noted on the same slope in the area renovated with native plants, directly north of here......"For (extremely) detailed information about what to do (and what not to do) with your slope and a list of appropriate plants check out the following article by Bert Wilson of Las Pilitas Nursery: Slopes or visit Las Pilitas Nursery in Escondido for a printed list of appropriate slope plantings for San Diego County.
While the rainy season is usually a great time to plant it may be wise to wait until the current torrential downpours have ended before disturbing the soil on your slopes, and remember, mulching your slope is crucial to preventing erosion and keeping moisture in the soil while your baby plants are growing! The ideal mulch is shredded redwood bark or similar because of it's ability to knit together and stay in place on even steep slopes.
