By: Russell Stafford
Many perennial flowers sulk in damp soil. Plant a lavender near a downspout, or a tulip in a boggy hollow, and bad things are sure to follow. On the other hand, some perenn
By: Russell Stafford
Many perennial flowers sulk in damp soil. Plant a lavender near a downspout, or a tulip in a boggy hollow, and bad things are sure to follow. On the other hand, some perennials relish soggy sites. It all comes down to “right plant, right place.” You can either sentence a dry-land plant to death in that damp garden corner – or you can literally “go with the flow” and plant glorious flowering perennials that revel in a little wetness.
Here’s our choice of some of the best of the latter. These hardy perennials would be more than happy to settle into that wet garden niche, especially if the soil is not too heavy and standing water is relatively rare. To lighten heavy clay soil, mix in a few inches of an organic amendment such as Fafard® Premium Natural & Organic Compost, preferably when conditions are relatively dry. Be sure to consult with conservation authorities if natural wetland areas are nearby.
Spring Flowers for Wet Places
Even standing water is no problem for the earliest bloomer on our list: marsh marigold (Caltha palustris). Its cheerful yellow buttercups on foot-tall stems brighten wetlands over much of the temperate Northern Hemisphere as winter turns to spring. It will happily do the same in your garden in partial shade and any decent, constantly moist soil (no inundation required!). The bold, serrated, heart-shaped leaves are also rather nice.
Another spring-blooming beauty from damp woodlands of eastern North America, Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) owes its common name to its tubular, narrow-waisted blooms that open pink and deepen to sky-blue. They cluster on 18-inch stems above broad, waxy, blue-frosted leaves that die back as flowering ceases in late spring. Plants that aren’t deadheaded produce numerous seedlings. Virginia bluebells grows from plump rootstocks that are sometimes dug from the woods by disreputable dealers, so beware of cheap, bare-root plants.
Hybrid globe flowers (Trollius × cultorum) open their bright buttercup blooms a few weeks after those of marsh marigold. The large, deeply cupped, creamy-white to dark orange flowers appear from late spring to early summer on 18- to 32-inch stems, depending on the variety. They arise from rosettes of deeply lobed leaves that go semi-dormant in July but flush with new growth later in the season. Trollius hybrids make delicious companions to blue-flowered perennials such as Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) and Texas blue-star (Amsonia tabernaemontana).
Late spring to early summer is also prime time for the candelabra flower clusters of Japanese primrose (Primula japonica). Borne on two-foot stems above rosettes of large, tongue-shaped leaves, the flowers come in numerous shades of red and pink, as well as white. This wet-g