Any ideas for shrub/tree that drinks a lot of water

Live in zone 8 in lower British Columbia, Canada; about a dozen times a year we get a degree or two of frost but we always get lots of rain and living on the coast, we do get wind. Unfortunately, an underground spring has moved and we are getting a lot more water in our place. Between that and being close to the rain forest area, we are getting enough water that we never have to water our lawn. I would like to put in a few shrubs or a small tree that can handle this much water.
Before the underground stream moved I had a gorgeous maple tree growing near our entrance, but it has since died. The same with my burning bush in the same area as the underground stream keeps the ground too wet.
On the other side of our driveway, we have a natural 4 ft deep pond in the rocks that is naturally fed by this stream; now we have had to add an overflow drainage in the pond. To boot, a big aspen tree had to be removed. I have added Big O drainage pipes (perimeter & throughout the area) and they constantly are flowing water.... winter & summer and still the ground has turned to bog. In the driest part of summer, the bog is dry enough to walk on, the rest of the year you really sink in the mud. It is a very protected area that receives both full sun and dappled shade in the later part of the afternoon.
It was a beautiful area that many couples used as a background for wedding pictures. Now it is all taken over by various grasses and bog grasses. Even the bajoo bananas I had there had to be moved.
So I am looking for ideas for plants, shrubs, and small trees for that area too; plants that like that much water and would suck some up.

The only plant that I can think of that might like that much water is a weeping willow but it's taller than youl'd like. If you have anything like a government extension office might wanna ask them for local ideas. There are some shrubs in the willow family too.

Hi 01cookie...check out these links for wetland vegetation. I think you may find some things that will work for you. Good Luck.

http://snohomishcd.org/streams-plants-and-wetlands/WETLAND%20WOODY%20VEGETATION%20SPECIES%20LIST.pdf

http://www.nwplants.com/business/catalog/indexWetlands.html (scroll down on this one for a list of wetland plants)

Bog Plants

http://www.hgtv.com/gardening/striking-blog-plants/pictures/index.html

http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/water-and-bog-plants-guide/pictures/index.html

cookie;

If the spring is concentrated enough, you may be able to get a well driller to tap it and install a discharge pipe. If the discharge is large enough in volume you may need to get an environmental permit.

Are there any water or sewer mains near your property? If so, these can leak and cause a situation similar to what you are having. The water follows the path of least resistance and can sometime appear hundreds of feet away from the actual leak point saturating the ground as it goes.

We are surrounded here with wetlands. I'm not sure if these will grow at your latitude but red maples, bald cypress, pond cypress, tupelo, cyrilla, dahoon holly, swamp willow, rain lily, pitcher plants, and palmettos do well here.

Bog plants don't absorb a lot of water so they won't have a sponge effect if that is what you are looking for. They only tolerate a lot of water.

I agree that bog plants don't absorb a lot of water. but in addition to the wetland plants, the bog plants do add charm and beauty to a wet area.

I have a River Birch that is an absolute water hog. They are gorgeous trees and don't leave a lot of litter. They grow fairly fast too. Don't know how well they would do in your area but I'm in 7b - 8a and they're fine here.

If size matters....

In the deciduous tree category, I agree with Baldcypress - and there's a compact version called 'Peve Minaret'. There's also compact versions of River Birch known as 'Little King' or 'Fox Valley'.

A west coast native conifer for sites like this is Thuja plicata, which is eventually a huge forest tree. There are a number of named selections with compact and dwarf characteristics.

For fragrant flowers, an excellent large shrub/small tree is Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) with deciduous or evergreen forms.

In the shrub category, very nice summer blooming shrubs include Clethra alnifolia and Itea virginica. For excellent winter interest, you can't have too many Winterberry Hollies (Ilex verticillata).

Finally, you could try some of the water tolerant Viburnum clan; you could do worse than Viburnum cassinoides or V. nudum.

There are many, many plants like Iris, marsh marigolds, Astilbe, Hostas etc, to name only a very few, but to form the backbone of a large area of wet soil you rightly say you require tree's ans shrubs and as these can be costly, usually collected over several years after drawing a plan, I would be more honest and tell you to go either visit a proper wetland garden, are you close to a Botanical garden, go to library / book store where you will be able to look at books with pictures of mature wetland gardens like you seem to be heading to-wards, these plants are also seasonal and will bring you delight over the seasons and bring in different wildlife other gardeners can only dream off, it would be worth your while doing some research first instead of rushing out and buying plants that after a few years could be dead, too large or obstructing a view you wanted to save for other plants, it's a very exciting gardening project and one that not many people can have without having to dig ponds / lakes etc, so I would take my time and get it right, maybe even your local gov office could help you get started with a layout, plant list or even a place already designed and growing close by you.
Whatever way you go, please be wary of the size proper water plants grow to and spread there roots as things like weeping Willows, (a Favorite for many) but these trees after 7-10 years have roots that can travel way beyond anything you can imagine and if there are any services like drains, water ways etc, these tree's can chew them up like you and I eating ice cream, that can if growing too close to buildings, drains etc cause thousands of pounds of damage and IF like many people you really love them, pick the right position so you have many years of enjoyment from them.
It's easy to plant stuff you like, but not as easy to select the right plants for the right place to grow and be left to spread and give pleasure for a lifetime of colour.
Wishing you all the best, and hope you can fulfill your new project, just remember, Rome was never built in a day so take time to plan and it will pay you back with real pleasure in years to come.
Perhaps you can keep us up to date on how your doing as it sounds like you will be planning and planting for many years to achieve your goal.
best of luck. WeeNel.

I agree....see if you can have a well driller tap the spring and use it to your advantage. All that beautiful water! I'd give my eye teeth for a spring!

One shrub that does very well in wet conditions is Elderberry...and you get edible fruit for yourself (makes great jelly!) and the birds.