Water Gardening: Help! Need plant suggestions for bog/wet garden ..., 1 by beckygardener

beckygardener wrote:
I am in the process of putting in a lasagna bed for a bog/wet area that is approximately 75' X 4'. I need ideas of plants to put in this long bed. I need plants that like moist soil and wet feet and can also tolerate occassional flooding without getting root rot. This area is almost always mushy when you walk around back there. Which is why I wanted to do a full-length garden. It's a useless area of my yard except for the possibility of being a "wet/bog" garden bed. I am hoping there are some plants that either host or are nectar plants for butterflies and hummingbirds.

I am thinking of putting one of my small container ponds in one small section of the bed. The area gets full sun for at least 6 hours a day, though some of it gets full sun ALL day. There is a large Oak tree that casts shade at different times of the day on part of the garden bed. But for the most part it gets full sun almost all day.

I am hoping some of you can give me some suggestions for plants. I live in zone 9B on the east coast of Florida. I am open to all ideas! I know canna and scarlet hibicus (Texas Star) are good choices and I have some of those plants in pots ready for that area. But I need a LOT more plants.

I have a small "swamp dogwood tree" in the left back corner which I just planted this past spring. It's in the process of getting established. Oddly, it bloomed twice for me. Once in the early spring and again at the end of summer. Go figure. And I have a small Walters Viburnum bush that also blooms a couple times a year in the right back corner of the garden bed. Which leaves about 65' of available wet garden bed to fill in between those 2 back corners.

Does anyone grow Iris?

Here is a photo of the wood edging which I just completed installing. It will be filled in with a layer of cardboard and then dirt/compost on top of that.

Any plant suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!