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************************************************************* WATER LOVERS BY Many of us have
low spots where water does not drain well, or we have a rain garden, or
where it would be fun to have a “wet garden”. For some plants
like Astilbe, who only do well in full sun if their feet are wet, they
will survive in drier soil under some shade.
One of the prettiest collections I have seen was under a high
deck where they could be kept damp very easily.
They are native to stream banks in The Chameleon
Plant (Houttuynia cordata) will grow many places. When you first see the
tri-colored leaves (green, red, or purple) on a low plant, you want it.
But be careful. I found it growing in my pots in a The big white
Calla Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) will grow in the edge of a bog if
you have one but it is not hardy here in Pickerel Weed (Pontedaria
cordata) will do fine in water up to 5 inches deep.
Mine lives in a pot up on a brick in one of my “portable Lobelia is a
hardy perennial that grows about 3 feet tall with a bright red spike of
small red flowers. It does
not have to be in water but does need a very damp soil so plant in a low
spot near a drain or your hose. Watch carefully during the hot, hot days
of July! The bloom stalk will be 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall. Bee Balm (Monarda
sp.) will bloom for a long time if their soil is kept moist.
The flowers do well in bouquets and there are many colors.
They do not like the soil wet in winter.
The Native Americans taught the pioneers to make tea from this
plant after they ran out of their supply so it is sometimes known as “ Queen of the
Prairie (Filipendula rubra) bloom stalk is found in waterside areas and
damp meadows and has always reminded me of cotton candy (pink in color).
The blooms (candy) reach about 3 feet tall with a slight shade from the
west. There are a number of varieties but Rubra actually does well in a
bog. Mine lives in a sunken horse tank that was a Water Lily pond for
years. When it sprang a leak I filled it with compost and “queens”.
It is easy to keep wet as it doesn’t drain as fast as ordinary spaces.
Goatsbeard
(Aruncus dioicus) does well in a shady wet spot.
Backed against a 6 foot tall Redwood fence, there is a tall one
about 4 feet tall with beards 20 inches long in mid-spring of pendant
tiny white flowers. I like these white flowers in with bouquets along
with round red flowers. The plants are either male or female.
I have decided mine are males as it never seems to seed. Copyright 2010 ************************************************************* HOW DO YOU BY If I were to
ask you to show me a picture of your landscape, where would you stand to
take the picture? Most would stand in the middle of the street and take
a picture of the front of the house? But how many really experience
there landscape from the middle of the street. The winter months are a
good time to think about how you really experience your landscape and
plan for next year. Instead of the front of the house look out your
picture window and take a picture and see what it looks like in the
fall, in the winter, in the spring, and in the summer. The goal is to
have an all season’s landscape. Also take a picture from your deck
and/or patio. These are the areas you quite often experience your
landscape from. Are there some
things you want to change? A picture shows what we quite often miss. It
will not hide the items we are so used to seeing we don’t see them
anymore. Copyright 2010 |