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Southern Gardening

Flood Plain Planting

14 years ago

The edge of my yard is on a flood plain, and with all this rain, it has turned into a mud puddle. I need to do something with it to make it look prettier since we are putting our house on the market. So, I need something that can take the water and grow fast! Any ideas?

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Comments (6)

alex_7b
14 years ago
Grow fast, hmmmmm?
Only Weeping Willow comes to mind which is not too popular.

For something long-term you could try Bald Cypress.
louisianagal
14 years ago
what about calla lillies, just read how they like water. not sure about canna lillies, but they are usually easy to grow. some irises like water too, actually grow in ditches.
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In the last flood, the Baraboo River was up to our armpits inside the cabin and lasted for about a week, starting June 8th. That was the worst it has been. I'm not sure where the water table is, but the river level is about 10 feet from the ground level most of the time. Has only gone over the lawn about 3 times in the last 45 years, and only that once inside the cabin. The oaks and pines grow fine there, but I wasn't sure about fruit trees. The soil is sandy. Maybe I'll try just one plum tree, and if it grows, I can graft on some scions from my 7 kinds I have at home for cross-pollination. If the plums get too wormy from lack of care, the squirrels can still enjoy them. It will be interesting to see how the coming spring goes, with all the snow on the ground. Northwoodswis
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I should add, the owner is not interested in maintenence, so xeriscape-friendly plants are high on the list. For the floodplain area, on my list of considerations I have witch hazel to corner her yard, osmanthus, wax myrtle and japanese plum yew to be the official division between floodplain and yard. To ease the transition from tall trees to flat grass, I'm thnking oak-leaf hydrangea, fothergilla, spicebush. Brunnera and tiarella towards the front, mixed in with ferns and wintergreen will help complete a slope towards the grass. I'm looking for evergreen, shades of blue and dark green, fall/winter interest, white or blue blooms, fragrance, and drought tolerance once established.
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So sorry to hear about your problem. That doesn't sound like fun...you are one power outage away from a flood, so you might look into getting a generator...an automatic one that is big enough to handle the power needs of the sump pump. Your other option is not cheap, but well worth it is to recognize that gravity is your friend and water runs down hill. Is there anything in the terrain that will allow you to drain the water away from the house? Curtain drains installed either inside or outside the house can be most helpful in these situations. If you give the water a place to go, it will go there. At our old house we ended up putting in an exterior curtain drain which made a huge difference....in our new house we curtain drained the entire foundation...even though the builder said water will never come out of those pipes...fine by us, just so long as water doesn't come IN the house!
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Iris GW
14 years ago
With all this rain, tons of places have standing water, not just flood plains. I don't think you have to deal with it and I don't think plantings will "soak it up".

The folks buying your property need to know what they are dealing with - it is what it is.
tsmith2579
14 years ago
I can't think of anything you can plant which will suck up all that water now. It would be several years before anything grew enough to remedy your situation.
dottie_in_charlotte
14 years ago
Rain gardens are the current trend but they don't just happen because there's some magical list of plants that survive boggy soil.
You're moving so you're already making the mental break from your yard and its problems.
Yes, by all means, be honest with the prospective buyers but before that, try setting out some elevated planters in that boggy area and choose plants that need regular watering (medium to high moisture loving plants). Pay particular attention to the light/sun needs of these plants you choose. Consider if you have any trees that when leafed out shade this floodplain planting area.

The objective is that when your buyers look at this difficult area they will see how you have turned a negative situation into a problem solved.
brass_tacks
14 years ago
Siberian Iris are what I planted in an area that had very poor drainage and flooded every time there was a downpour. In fact, that's why I planted them -- so some of the water would get soaked up. They will do well even if the area does not dry out. For me, a planting of three multiplied to many by the end of the summer. My Siberians are flooded with sunlight until noon and shaded the rest of the day. They keep their green and some varieties will flower throughout the warm seasons.

Louisianna Iris like wet areas and I tried those also, but they don't multiply as quickly as you would like.

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