From left to right I have a Itea Virginica, a Diablo Ninebark (I will move it to another spot, he did not die but did not do great in so much moisture), a Hicksii Yew ( I had it transplanted for the same reason), a miscanthus giganteous, Holly meserveae, Pin Oak and a dappled Willow.

I'm not sure that a Winterberry will appreciate standing water. Where there is a lot of water, I'd go with the buttonbush and/or the red twig dogwood. And BTW, you do know that winterberries need a male for the female to berry. And viburnums will also berry much more heavily with another clone of the same or closely related species. I get no berries whatsoever from my lone 'Blue Muffin'.

Also, while a pin oak will make a lovely tree some day, it will do little to provide privacy down low. If you make your shrub border (that is what you're developing, not a hedge, which is a shorn line of the same species) more than one plant deep, it will be much more interesting as well as providing greater privacy.

What is the area like after early summer? It honestly sounds to me like one of those evil areas that is quite wet early, but dries out later on. The real swamp plants won't like the dryness, and anything else won't like the wet. For that reason, I'd start with plants that can handle both, like the dogwood and winterberry.

I thought that Pin Oak would branch low and drop their lower branches like a conifer, I was even worried about that being a problem with the other shrubs around it and that I should not plant anything behind their. Though, I would like to plant a smooth hydrangea back their some day.

Yes, early summer the area will dry, but coming fall and winter the water stand again, not as bad as spring but still soggy. I do water my plants once a week when the rain stops, and mulch them heavily so they keep moisture.

Thanks for the photo - it always is easier to see the situation than trying to visualize it from descriptions! Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) and shrub dogwoods (Cornus spp.) grow here in everything from average moisture to standing water and so should be fine.

Some marketers sell winterberry in pots with both male and female plants, so that might work for you or you could just plant two shrubs (male and female) right next to each other in one larger hole. Pollinators love the tiny flowers and the berries are stunning in the fall and early winter, after which the birds eat them. Plain green in summer. One of my favorite plants.

I like the variegated leafed forms of the red-twigged (or gold twigged) dogwoods since that makes them ornamental in the growing season as well as having the bright branches in the winter. Also a favorite plant; I would have more if the voles didn't like eating their roots so much.

IME I don't see Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) growing in standing water, though it is happy in moist soil such as on an upper floodplain and I have them growing in a bed that pretty much never gets watered, so I think it may not work as well in your area with standing water. Also, mine got killed to the snow line last winter when our temperatures got below -22, so if you ever get that cold, you might not want this shrub. It does have very early flowers and bright gold fall color, though it's just green in the summer.

Look at Clethra such as Ruby Spice or Vanilla Spice. August flowers that the pollinators love, and bright yellow fall foliage. It does sucker some depending on the selection and is fairly unspectacular for the first part of the growing season.

I do see button bush growing in standing water without problem, but it isn't particularly ornamental for long. It's mostly just a green blob with a relatively short blooming season. Better for a more rural setting than a standard yard IMO.

I wouldn't use the Viburnum 'Blue Muffin' for a number of reasons (It's one of a very few plants I've ripped out in my years gardening.) Mine didn't bloom well, it needs a second plant (not a 'blue muffin', a different selection) for berries, it had no fall color (unlike most Viburnums), and mine was very popular with the Viburnum beetles so the leaves were always holey.)

A couple of design comments:

I second Laceyvail's comment about having a couple rows of plants. It will make a better screen and be more ornamental. If you can't spare the room for that, staggering the row slightly will help improve the screening effect since you can overlap more when you have alternate plants set slightly forward. Even planting perennials and bulbs that don't need dividing in front of the shrubs will add ornamental value. I'd also put down an edging front and back (either a line of metal or plastic edging buried to the rim or cut a 4" deep V shaped trench) to keep the grass out and fill the whole bed with mulch. It will be much easier maintenance, remove competition for water and nutrients, and help keep moisture levels even for the shrubs. Also, if you or your neighbor uses weed and feed, it will help keep the herbicide part away from your shrubs.

Having some repetition in your shrub bed (think three of one kind spaced down the length) will tie things together. The winterberry, meserve holly, or the ninebark (Physocarpus) would be good for this. Alternatively, you could use repeated perennials or three smaller evergreens. Without some repetition (yes I completely understand wanting as much variety as possible) the bed will look quite random.

I also agree with Laceyvail's comment about the pin oak not being a screening plant, and I would strongly consider moving it next spring. When it is old enough it will produce millions of small acorns that will sprout in the bed and you will spend a lot of time removing them, and it will shade the bed so the other shrubs won't be as dense under the oak. I like pin oaks, having grown up with them, but I don't think it really goes in a mixed shrub border; it's more of a yard tree. If you don't have a spot somewhere in the yard, move it to the end of the bed farthest from the house (where I assume privacy is least needed) to use as punctuation for the bed.

Let us know what you decide and add more photos as it develops. I put in a shrub border for screening starting in the fall of 2009, and am really enjoying it. It's much larger than yours (so I have about 5 kinds of plants that repeat instead of just one and it's about 4 layers deep) but if you want to see photos, there are some in this thread.

Overall, I like the red-osier. All-season interest, native and good for birds and pollinators, all that stuff. And eye-poppingly beautiful all fall/winter. That's worth a lot in our part of the world!

+oM

Deffo go with the shrubby willows - I have a mix of red - s.alba Chermesina, black s.daphnoides and various green osiers (I do basketry) such as Dicky Meadows and plain viminalis. Lovely things in all seasons.

based on how great the lawn looks... i question a serious water issue ...

review the link ... in the clay section ... and plant high.. on small mounds or berms... to insure the plant crowns are not totally submerged ....

the usual issue is the planting.. and giving the plant a year or two.. to settle in.. so it can cope with the situation ... and once 'fully established' ... most of these plants can deal with a lot of stuff ... and probably your water issue ...

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

I have a similar situation and live not too far from you, Fernanda. I am also working on a shrub and tree border for privacy (which I have been calling my Fortress Wall) and have an area which gets water logged at certain times of the year. I just planted Aronia melanocarpa 'Autumn Magic' and while its too soon to tell how it will fare, it sounds like the ideal middle to front of the border shrub for this area. It can tolerate shade which was a major appeal to me since it is in the shade of a 20 year old maple.

I am also interested in the variegated dogwoods (I think 'Ivory Halo' is one that many members here recommend) as well as Clethra.

Campanula, do you find the shrubby willows difficult to contain? I thought they had a notorious reputation for spreading. I notice in my area, the Salix family tends to hold on to its leaves in fall longer than many which would be ideal for screening

What follows is an opinion, not necessarily a "fact": I find variegated dogwoods and indeed, many variegated woody plants to be real downers in the landscape. Oh sure, up close, one can see that interesting leaf pattern. But from any distance away, what one is seeing is a dull plant, one which looks like there's something wrong with it. By contrast-and I'll use the red twig dogwood example- the "normal" green leaf is vibrant, healthy, and tends to stay unblemished all the growing season long, leastways in my part of the world.

+_oM

+oM,

You're spot on with the variegation effect- the white and green, particularly when the sun hits it, can "meld together" and create a chlorotic looking specimen. I was excited about the new river birch Shiloh Splash only to find out that it looks good when conditions are shady or cloudy and looks sickly in the sun.

To the original poster,

I think the red-twigged dogwoods are a great choice and there is a newer selection from Silky Dogwood called Red Rover Dogwood that looks like a winner as well. This would be very well-adapted to wetter conditions. We have also had great success with Arctic Fire Dogwood which has a slightly more compact growth habit.

I would also recommend buttonbush for the large glossy leaves, emerging burgundy foliage on the leaves, and the great pom-pom flowers. The selection offered from Proven Winners called Sugar Shack is smaller but most likely will get decent sized in time.

So long as the area is not high pH you could also do the shrub form of River Birch called Fox Valley or Little King. Sort of a green meatball effect but you get great bark in the winter. Also, consider other native viburnums like Blackhaw or Rusty Blackhaw. Both are great shrubs/small trees with good wildlife value and great fall color.

Hi guys,

Thanks for your advice.

It seems that the Red Osier is the winner, and for sure I will find a spot for the Sweetsummer as well.

We moved to this house in March and nothing was back there, so I started planting and my hubby got really mad and I had to promise him I was not going to dig his stupid grass to plant, and blablabla, so that is why I could not make a bed before planting. As a result my husband complaint the whole season of how hard was to mow the grass around my plants. Whatever...

I planted the Pin Oak there mostly because there is the Northwest side of my yard and where I would benefit most of its shade, as for a esthetical point of view, it really does not go in a shrub border, as it will get too tall and disproportional to the other plants, not mentioning all the shade. The only other spot I would have for that tree would be in the North side of the property, but that would shade my neighbors yard more than anything else, and he already has two huge Red Maples. Well, I think I will have to shade his yard then.

As far as the water issue goes, yesterday rained the whole day and the water is standing there, around my Holly and Miscanthus as well, I might had to transplant them today, rsrsrsrsrsrs.

Tell your hubby that turf grass is an unnatural plant community in N. America and invasive to boot! Fun fact: I sometimes perform wetland delineations. Well, here in Wisconsin and I suspect, many other parts of N. America, the number one most common species identified in wetland delineations is not at all a wetland species, is not native to N. america, and is really boring in that context as well. What is that plant you ask? Duh duh da duh.....none other than Kentucky bluegrass! I don't know if you, dear readers, realize the significance of that fact. A totally non-wetland adapted plant, not from around here, yet showing up in more of these very technical plant surveys than any other. Sheesh!

+oM

Here's what had done well for me in an area that periodically floods (actually flooded now):

Cardinal Dogwood

Baton Rouge Dogwood

Bud's Yellow Dogwood

Silky Dogwood (including the new Cayenne selection)

Buttonbush

Various Viburnum trilobum varieities

Various Viburnum dentate varieties

Amelanchier Autumn Brilliance

American Larch

Hibiscus 'Cristi'

Various Physocarpus varieties (Summer Wine etc)

Sambucus

Flame Willow

Died during a prolonged flooding event:

Thuja occ.

Black spruce

Some Physos that went deeper than the rest

Have a long list of perennials as well. I've tried a lot over the years.

That Miscanthus 'Giganteus' can get rather large. Just about the right size for you.

Here it is with a friend's grand-kids. Picture taken in August with a month or more of growing weather left. It should be cut down low every winter when it starts looking worse than good.

Mike