Hi, we have a lot in Hope that is extremely wet with multiple creeks on the property and serious drainage problems. The back is part shade with existing trees. We would like to plant some shrubs around the edges for privacy. Any suggestions for shrubs that love wet feet? Thanks
I would look into planting Cypress, some Bamboo, Alder, Spirea, Lonicera, Thuja plicata, for a subtropical look which requires winterization.. are Brugmansias, Musa bajoo and Arum. Add Blechnum spicant and Poltystichum munitum too for all year foliage.
Something that you may want to consider is not using plants where it's wet. Building a fence that keeps the wood posts out of the 'wet' may work too. Plus you'll get privacy screening sooner than waiting for hedges.
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is a deciduous holly that grows (here in Maine) in everything from damp soil to a few inches of standing water, and forms nice thick clumps that are so dense they provide excellent screening even when not in leaf. Plants are either male or female, and of course only the females produce berries, which are brightly colored (usually in some tone of scarlet) and persist well into winter. There are numerous named cultivars but the plain species is also very nice. Highbush blueberry grows at the water's edge around lakes here, but I'm not sure how well it tolerates having its feet constantly wet. The berries are inconspicuous (though tasty, and attractive to wildlife) and overall the plant has a graceful, airy sort of appearance and tolerates a fair amount of high shade.
One plant that loves wet areas is gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides). Perennial and has an unusual, attractive flower. Bees like it. N.B.: This is a different plant from the invasive and aggressive purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).
Various forms of our native Redtwig dogwood grow to 6-'8' and slowly spread by stolons (Cornus stolonifera), eventually form dense enough thickets that even in winter give privacy. You do need to prune out older wood on a regular basis to keep the winter ornamentation of the colored twigs.
Because Ora is looking for privacy, I think that the wet-loving perennials and twiggy shrubs will not serve their purpose. Typically for privacy people want a continuous opaque screen that is at least 1.5m high. Hedges are organic but 'unnatural' because plants don't normally grow that close together. Looking to nature for inspiration and instruction, I can't think of any single plant/hedge that could be grown in a typical urban lot that would provide an effective privacy screen. Ora - how much space do you have? The dogwood and hardhack, if you planted enough of them, might give you some privacy during the summer and fall.
Outer coastal native evergreen Myrica californica has done well planted on a sopping wet blue clay bank at the Government Locks, Seattle. On the WA coast it grows wild with Hooker willow - another handsome native shrub that also looks well with the wax myrtle in addition to growing with it in nature.
Since Ora mentioned "several creeks on the property" I am not seeing this as a typical urban lot. Obviously low-growing perennials will not offer any privacy. But a mixed hedge (or should we say "hedgerow") including such things as arbor vitae and winterberry will provide a substantial amount of screening as it grows thicker over the years. I lived in a lakeside cottage that was completely hidden, year-round, behind a stand of (deciduous) Ilex verticillata because the branches had grown in so thickly. Cornus stolonifera might not grow tall enough to serve this purpose.
Ora How close are the neighbours to your yard? How much space do you have to dedicate to a planted privacy screen? I had imagined a rugged North Shore suburban lot. The others have suggested some great plants which will enhance your garden and ones I hadn't considered before. It just takes so many more plants to create privacy when using 'thin' plants that with the more familiar 'thick' cedar hedge.
I have very wet property with liquid water showing in holes deeper than 10" most of the year. There was 'wild' asparagus growing in the shaded areas which I didn't recognize at first; I thought it was some splendid fern. Bright green with feathery leaves about 5' tall when left unpicked; no garden pests seem to bother it, and it pops up very early in the year. Very Oriental looking. Now I always leave a few shoots (hard as that is!:])
Not a shrub, and dies back in winter, but absolutely spectacular in the summer/fall: Joe Pye Weed Eupatorium purpureum
