Planting a steep bank?

Hi there,
I've got a large steep bank that needs planting out and looking for some suggestion for good ground coverage as well as things that will be able to creep up the bank?

It gets sunlight most of the day - but it is too steep to climb so would need something with low maintenance.

I've attached a photo to show how it currently looks. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hopefully some member might have the right knowledge to advise you, but think with it being such a big steep area you really need professional advice on not just how to plant it , but to stablaize it long term, like many such highway embankments you often see them drill deep into it with rods and using some form of heavy duty netting over the face.

Would also be a bit concerned about the roots from those trees loosening and pushing out the bank in the future.

 

Thanks for the reply, the bank has been like that for about 4 years and hasn't moved anywhere, we just scraped it back recently to get rid of all the weeds when we where digging the garden.

 

Are you building a wall or some such structure at the base of the bank?

It looks to me like it is in need of some kind of planting that could help stabilize it but its not something I know much about on that kind of scale.

 

Hey, we are just adding a couple of railway sleepers into the steel holders, just to create a boundary. Hopefully these will be in place tomorrow.

 

Perhaps it would be more manageable if you were to terrace the bank. How high is it please?

 

@Stacey Leonard
It is very steep and also quite variable in the slope some parts appear to be vertical. If it was me I would want a 3-4ft high retaining wall tied back into the bank. I would also look at some form of drainage at the bottom of the slope
Grass is the obvious answer, maybe a wildflower mix. Ivies will grow on a bank like that as would Vinca major, Rubus tricolour, Rubus pentalobus (might not like the sun), Ceanothus repens, Cotoneaster horizontalis, Hypericum calcinium, Ajuga repens and the decorative dead nettles (Lamium).

 

Its 12ft high

 

Thanks so much for the list, very helpful. We have sleepers in place at the bottom now, held by steel, which have a bed of stones behind for drainage. Thanks again