My husband and I purchased a piece of land last summer. The area is blessed with an abundance of water -- even in zone 8, the grass was green in the summer without watering. The whole area has high ground water. There is a lot of agriculture and much of the valley grows stuff without man-made irrigation.
A relatively small area of our property, maybe 500 square feet or so, is under an inch or two of water during the winter. The construction folks who have been out to help us determine where to put a house think that the water is fed by a seasonal spring. (Thie seems to be true.) In the summer, the area appeared dry on the surface, but there are water-loving weeds and grasses growing there, so I am assuming that an inch or two down, the soil must be moist year-round. The area is sunny.
So here is the question. How do I determine what to plant? I would love to see lots of wild-looking flowers there, but how do I determine what would grow? I have lots of gardening books, but they don't really go into "marshy meadows" because they seem to assume any gardener would drain the area -- but I would like to leave it as it is, but pull out the ugly weeds and turn it into something pretty.
Are there any reference books, with plenty of illustrations, that can help me?
Thank you so much in advance!
Pat
This message was edited Mar 3, 2006 10:35 PM
New property swampy area please help
Good for you working with what you have rather than trying to fight it! You have naturally what the rest of us try to recreate. This could be a totally glorious garden for marginal plants hardy to your zone!! You just want to make sure that the plants can be a bit drier in the summer, and be underwater in the winter. If necessary, you could add soil to raise the level of part of the area to keep the crowns of certain plants from being underwater.
One idea that comes to mind is making a stop over at the carnivorous plant forum. You are in zone 8 and there are many native carnivorous plants that do well in that zone. Sarracenias, the pitcher plants, for instance. You'll get expert advice on that forum regarding which species to look for. They are beautiful plants, plus very interesting. There is a well known grower of carnivorous plants in San Fransisco area and he posts to that forum under the nom de plume 'Philcula'. A veritable font of good information.
I can also highly recommend Beth Chatto's book The Damp Garden. You'll get many, many wonderful ideas there.
Some plants to consider, just off the top of my head:
Louisiana Iris
Lobelia
Queen of the Prairie.
Calla lilies - they take full fun in my area so they probably would in yours.
How about a back edge of red and yellow twig dogwood? There are a couple of cultivars, I think one might be 'winter beauty', that have orange stems in the winter, as well.
If you wanted to get really creative with the site, you could dig out a spot about two feet deep and sink a large watertight container in it or put a pond liner in it to hold water. Lotus would then grow there for you. There are a couple of threads on this forum right now that discuss some ways to grow lotus in the landscape.
These are all things that you could leave year around. If you want to get into putting stuff in that you would over-winter inside, the list goes on and on! Colocasias, cannas, ...
IN general, in terms of books, look for books on gardening in the 'marginal' areas. Lots of this stuff is included in books on ponds.
Do you have photos?
Thank you for setting me in the right direction, Pixiedish! I will order The Damp Garden and see what she has to say. I love Irises, and the thought of being able to grow many of them brings a real smile to my face. I didn't realize you could grow pitcher plants out of the tropics. (I was always sort of a plants and critters geek as a kid and tried to grow carniverous plants in my room, but they never lasted long!) Many of the plants you mention are not ones I can picture in my head, so I will have to do a search on them.
The area is very rural, so it will certainly be a challenge to see what I can grow that the deer won't chomp on! =)
I don't have photos yet, but will have to figure out that digital camera I have in a drawer. This whole project (starting with the bare lot, the house going up, putting in the gardens) is one I should document.
Thank you SO much for your help. This is certainly a very friendly forum!
Pat, I would also look in water gardening books for marginals and/or bog plants. The red lobelia is one.
Dave
If you were a plant geek as a kid, you definitely would enjoy the carnivorous plants forum. Probably the reason yours died when you were a kid is that they are really plants for outside. You had Venus Flytraps perhaps?
There are many kinds of iris you can grow under your conditions, but not the regular bearded varieties. They would rot. You can grow the Louisiana types, and also Japanese iris and Siberian Iris.
Your best bet will be books on marginal plants, then rule out the ones tasty to deer.
I think you and I bought the same piece of property! LOL I think you got a better climate though. :)
Don't forget about elephant ears, hardy hibiscus, acorus, some cannas, iris pseudocorus, gamecock....somewhere I printed out a list of suggestions and don't know where the heck I put it. Have to take a shovel to my desk soon. The above are things I am planting but I think they won't be quite so well behaved in your climate.
Isn't it funny that we didn't question that pretty green grass in the dead of summer???
Probably the same way I didn't question all the 'lovely green English Ivy' running rampant on this property when we bought it! I believe our exclamation was something on the order of : The backyard looks just like a park!'.
This all falls underneath the heading of 'love is blind'. When you love a property, green grass in the summer surely must be a good thing!!! LOL
I'm still thinking that it will turn out to be a plus! Maybe I'll be able to leave for a couple of weeks in the summer and not worry about watering...
There is some "higher ground," too. I am hoping I can build that area up even higher and plant a couple of fruit trees. There are old orchards around here that produce fruit with no irragation.
Pixydish is right. Love is blind.