plant help please

Legacy_user

we are moving into a property that has a very moist front garden the neighbours have said its like a swamp when it rains [lovely] what plants/shrubs can i plant to try to dry it up a bit ?

kazwookie

If that is the case, I would check yourselves, I would suggest digging a 1m x 1m soakway land drain first to help.

Then you can plant what ever you want.

Mojisola

kazwookie wrote: »

If that is the case, I would check yourselves, I would suggest digging a 1m x 1m soakway land drain first to help.

Then you can plant what ever you want.

If it's only your garden, try to solve the problem once and for all as kazwookie says.

If it's the whole area - there's several roads near me where all the gardens are like this after heavy rain - then look for lists of plants that enjoy keeping their feet wet. Cornus will do well - a range of leaf variations, good autumn colours and coloured stems over the winter.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1507&bih=922&q=cornus&oq=cornus&gs_l=img.3..0l10.1181.2556.0.2983.6.6.0.0.0.0.226.474.5j0j1.6.0...0.0...1ac.1.5.img.z3ZPPhRSZO0

Leif

You could have a burst pipe, flooding the soil. My holly bushes had grown into a drain pipe from a roof gutter, and blocked it, causing severe damp in the soil. If the whole area is damp, and you are on a hill, it might be draining into your property. Otherwise as per above.

tim_n

Dig a big hole, make a lovely pond. The frogs will love you.

Mojisola

Mojisola wrote: »

If it's the whole area - there's several roads near me where all the gardens are like this after heavy rain - then look for lists of plants that enjoy keeping their feet wet.

tim_n wrote: »

Dig a big hole, make a lovely pond. The frogs will love you.

One the house owners in the area I mentioned did that - dug a big hole and put in a fancy plastic moulded pond. The next time it poured with rain, the level of the ground water rose and his pond majestically came out of the ground and floated half-in, half-out of the hole.

cjb02

water buttercup idle for damp/wet areas

System

tim_n wrote: »

Dig a big hole, make a lovely pond. The frogs will love you.

They wouldn't love me by the time my terrier dog had finished with them!

sobie

If its wet (not because of drainage issues) then plump for:

amelanchier lamarckii (a beautiful moisture loving small tree)
Hostas
Lobelia Cardinalis
Iris Siberica
Astilbe (false goats beard)
Clematis
Bamboo
Some grasses - Acorus, Carex. Phalaris (gardeners garters)
Primula (Cowslip, drumstick or veris)
Willow
Some ferns
Canna's
Eupatorium (Pie weed)
Ligularia
Creeping Jenny (Lyismachia)
Marsh Marigolds

Try looking for moisture loving plants in the aquatic section of your local garden centre. Your not looking for pond plants, just those that like damp feet.

malebolge

I agree with checking if there's a broken pipe or if it's just a moist area before doing anything.

We moved to a house with a front garden that was very moist - the gardens sloped very slightly, and tried digging drainage ditches to no avail. In the end I tried a different solution and am very happy with the results.

I finally thought - ok, accept the that anything planted directly in the garden will have to like a swamp, and think more creatively. I created a raised bed out of broken slabs bought from the council at the end nearest the house where the moisture was worst. I could then plant small shrubs that were moisture tolerant but the extra height in the raised bed meant that it wasn't a swamp.

Next - I got rid of the lawn and put 3 other shaped raised beds in its place, along with stone/slate chippings. I've also got some large stone pots dotted about. This means that I can grow a much wider variety of plants, and not worry about soil conditions. In the beds I have azalea, pieris and rhodedendron amongst other shrubs. I've adjusted the soil for these to make sure they have the acidic conditions they love (another advantage of creating individual raised beds). I use the pots to add colour all year round and have spring bulbs followed by ranunculus, dianthus and small chrysanthemums. I've also a few large grasses in pots.

It's a reasonably large front garden and one thing I did do was make sure it wasn't cluttered - there's a lot of space between features and although it's not a minimalist Japanese garden I did want that sort of feel to it.

It looks very effective and I don't need to worry at all about the naturally damp conditions at all.

System

thanks for all the replies ive since found out the problem is clay soil.