Will Persicaria Polymorpha tolerate periodic standing water?

8 years ago

I just had some large trees removed, so now I'm having a lot of fun thinking about new plants. (The "fun phase" should last until about June when the hostas and hydrangea macs are frying!)

I have an area that can be wet in spring (standing water for a week or two), and then periodically wet during the summer. It gets the runoff from two downspouts, and should get 6 - 7 hours of sun. Persicaria Polymorpha would look good there, but I've never asked it to cope with standing water. Will it?

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Comments (10)

laceyvail 6A, WV
8 years ago
I would tend to doubt it, but there's no way to tell without trying it.
Tanya Dodson
8 years ago
I know types of Ligularia do as that is what they're known for. They have actually very attractive foliage, and I love the one I have in my garden.
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Reg pnw....I hope you weren't adversely effected by the recent storms. It wasn't at all biblical here in Portland, but the coast sure got hammered. I think we only got 2.5 inches in that period. I am well aware of the benefits of oak leaves as mulch. Many forum people have lectured me on this on this subject before:-) It's difficult to understand another persons situation. My problem is a really huge tree & a tiny ( & I mean teeny weeny) yard. The oak leaves are a good six inches long. I bought an electric leaf mulcher. The problem is, it doesn't mulch the the leaves when they are wet. And there are way too many leaves for me to use in this tiny yard. I try to mulch some before the rain comes & put those in a pile to become leaf mold which I use to mulch in the spring. But I rake all the big wet heavy leaves up & take them to the recycling depot. Most of the yard is (porous) patio material & clover lawn, neither of which benefit from mulch. There is only maybe 60 to 100 square feet of soil that needs mulch. I just get way too many leaves for that. I have seen in my experience, overly heavy mulching kill plants. I rely on my powers of observation. I left the leaves the first year I was here, & they turned into a thick, impenetrable, anaerobic mess. The plants weren't getting water, so they suffered when it froze, & the root zones were probably suffocating. In an ideal world nothing leaves your yard as trash ever. I'm working on that OK? It may not be entirely possible. As a fellow former Northern California gardener, have you felt that trepidation about working your soil here when it's wet?
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It looks like you have a nice large property there! I assume the shed (?) in the back is yours too? Is the usual primary viewing of this area the one in the picture? If so, be careful that placement of tres, shrubs and large perennials (e.g. the Persicaria) doesn't block the view of the building (assuming you don't want to deliberately hide it....). It looks like there might be an arbour there too....? When I look at the pictures of my Persicaria, I notice that most of their companions are white-flowering too, with the effect being the Persicarias forming a background to a larger picture. So I'd probably be inclined to spread around other white-flowering things of a similar stature that would keep the area white (a color very visible from a long distance away...) over most of the season. You could start the spring with a serviceberry (which would also give fall foliage colour and berries for people and birds), a pearlbush would be nice to follow, along with viburnum. Bridalwreath or Snowmound spirea could fit in there too. There are lots of white hydrangeas that bloom at various times through the summer, some with flowers that turn pink in the late summer. Our C. kousa dogwood looks good with a Persicaria by the patio when they bloom together. For fall you could try a Heptacodium tree. That's a lot of plants! You'd need to draw a plan to scale to figure out how many plants would fit and not block the desired views. I find big blue hostas go nicely near the Persicarias if there is shade and moisture for them and blue-flowered perennials or perennials with flowers in the cooler tones of pink and red look good too. Deep red hardy hibiscuses are fabulous with white-flowered companions in late summer.. Lots of potential there.. you need to decide on what look you want, what views you want to keep - or hide, and how much - and what kind - of maintenance you're prepared to do. Take some pictures of the area and doodle ideas on them to help get a feel for what you'd like. Have fun!
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rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Speaking of "Ligularia", I see a new one for 2016...."King King". Advertised as 4 feet in height (including flowers).

KK Lig

(But I still think that the extra moisture wouldn't compensate for 7 hours of sun. I love "Ligularia" as well but it does make me wince when I see ours melt like butter in a dry spell.)
ruth_mi
Original Author
8 years ago
I love ligularias, and have some in that spot. But I think they'll wilt in the sun despite the moisture...that's why they got moved there before the trees came down. Rodgersia would probably work (and I have a large one to move), but the persicaria would be a better size, so I was hoping someone had tried it in similar conditions.

Rouge - thanks for the link to the new variety. I love Britt Marie, and King Kong sounds like an improved version. I'm waiting for one with similar foliage but flowers like "the Rocket."
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
what your base soil ... drainage wise?

and is the standing spring water.. related to snow thaw??? .. prior to ground thaw???

in livonia... i had a spot that was under water for a week or so.. at thaw.. when everything was dormant... and as soon as the ground thawed ... it was all gone .... i dont recall anything failing due to such ...

same area .. after a good storm.. might do the same for a couple hours ... no effect other than to completely wet the soil in summer.. when it was needed ...

in that garden.. i had high organic MI peat type soil ... well draining ...

i did not grow the particular plant you are asking about .. but i did grow knotweed.. LOL .... i did have painters palette, but i dont recall if it was in the wet spot ...

ken
rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
8 years ago
Love that "Painter's Palette". There are few perennials with such gorgeous markings on the leaf.
ruth_mi
Original Author
8 years ago
Ken - Heavy soil, not great drainage, but not the worst either. Yes, mostly spring thaw and heavy rain issues.

rouge - I like Painter's Palette too! I have it throughout the garden. It's gotten to the point where I try to cut all the flowers off so I don't have a carpet of seedlings. If I need more plants, I just cut them back a little and stick the cut stems in the ground.

I also really like Persicaria Fire Tail and P. Taurus - they're bloom machines from June through even light frosts.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
some knotweeds can be rather aggressive... some might say invasive .. in warmer climes ...

here in MI ... mine dies to the ground every winter .. and is rather shallow rooted [easily pulled out] ... and is therefore not all that aggressive ... not to mention the leaves have a lot of white in them. which also reduces vigor ....

i have no insight into your particular version ...

ken
rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
It's gotten to the point where I try to cut all the flowers off so I don't have a carpet of seedlings

Me too Ruth. But even though I get lots of seedlings I am having trouble getting any singleton of this plant to return the following year to develop and thus get larger and more mature.
ruth_mi
Original Author
8 years ago
That's interesting. Mine comes up on the late side but it always comes up, and in all kinds of soil. Must be just enough of a temp difference.

Will Persicaria Polymorpha tolerate periodic standing water?

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Will Persicaria Polymorpha tolerate periodic standing water?

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laceyvail 6A, WV

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