Dara: I have the same problem. Last year was my first garden and I have tried everything to correct this problem. Have had a lot of good suggestions, but none of the ideas were do-able for me because I don't have the money to follow through on the ideas. We have nothing by Georgia clay where I live, so the soil retains water long after everyone else's soil has dried up! I was told to add more top soil to that end of the garden, to build a raised bed at that end of the garden, and something else that sounded like building raised beds in stair step fashion, can't remember what they called it now. But I will be interested in any ideas someone may give you because I would also benefit from any new ideas.
Sheila

The alternative to correcting your drainage is to select plants that will thrive in your existing conditions. Something like Siberian Iris would be a good bet.

Oh do I ever have experience with wet spots in lawns! The backmost 8-10 feet of my back yard is currently under 1-4 inches of standing water. It will be that way until July, at least. It's mostly full sun all day long, but a few sections are partly shady.

I am finally conceding my constant battle with the wet. I have planted:
pussywillow
red twig dogwood
curly willow
purple and yellow flag iris
calla lily
cardinal flower (started from seed)
yellow loosestrife (started from seed)
marsh marigold (started from seed)
joe pye weed (started from seed)
turtlehead (started from seed)
......and a couple more things from seed that I can't recall off the top of my head. Purchasing "marginal plants" at a nursery is extremely expensive, which is why I bought seeds instead.

We are looking to sell our home in the next 3-4 years, and having an established low-maintenance garden in the otherwise pain-in-the-butt wet should be a selling point.

hi
Cheryl had some excellent suggestions.Instead of fighting a wet area put in plants that like it.
Would suspect that the plants she did would also do well in your area..Good place to start looking anyway
Gary

I'll take a closer look at your list this weekend when I finally decide. I really, really want to do a wildflower mix, I guess I could do that in a dryer area. Would they enjoy "wet feet" I wonder? I haven't seen what the area does all summer, so it could actually dry out a bit when it stops raining.

All of Cheryl's plus tall garden Phlox and great blue lobelia

planting a weeping willow back there will serve you twice- they're so thirsty that they may very well dry out that spot, eventually (oh, like 10 years down thye road) and willow really IS as easy to grow as 'cut a stick, insert into damp soil'...Marsh mallows are lovely as well, if the area stays wet year round- they look very much like tropical hibiscus....

in my case, rather than trying to fill that area in, I'd dig it deeper, and start my own mini-wetlands.

You are not alone! Clethra loves wet feet, very easy to grow, the bumblebees love it, very, very fragrant cascading flowers that bloom in late July/August - color when everything else is gone.

I hope more people add to this list as planting in a vernal pooling/mini-wetland is a real trial! I also put in blueberry bushes but lost 3 of them...didn't set them high up enough in a mound - didn't know you were supposed to.

A person in a Landscape Design forum, "Neighbors" thread named Celestial, said they mulched to dry out a spot. I've linked the thread below. If you don't want to use bog plants for all of the area maybe you could use several layers of leaves, newspaper and cardboard and put a 6 or 8" layer of soil on top and plant. The worms would help to create good soil out of the layers and you would get to plant what you wanted.

Hope this helps. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Neighbors

Sorry, I didn't mean to kill your thread.....

Yeona

On the weeping willow, chinacat, a neighbor(an excellent gardener) planted the same to cure a wet area problem..For the short term this works, but the willow never grew the deep roots, thus, a heavy wind blew it over - a shame..Now that the community has sewer, there is no longer an over abundance of water in the wrong place.

I do believe it is best to grow plants where they will thrive best...

There is also pickrel rush, ice ballet milkweed,cinderella milkweed (pink) ribbon grasses, several types of rushes, many types of sedges, spider lillies all types, mints all types ( warning mint can be very invasive), pink flamingo water celery, obediant plant, most types of cannas once they are up and have the first leaf unfurled, many types of taro,lousiana irises, japenese irises, ragged robin, hardy purple thalia, if part of it is shaded in the afternoon white butterfly ginger, elephant ears, calidums, celosa,impatiants ( impatiants can take full sun if wet enough). If you go to the ponds forum you would be surprised at some of the terrific plants that like wet feet.

not all marginal plants are expensive. If you know what you are looking for there are MANY "Superstores" that don't know they can ream you on the price if they call it a pond or bog plant. Research your marginals and keep a list with you the next time you go to any of the -Mart stores.