Fighting Drainage Problems by Landscaping With Native Plants

Solutions to drainage problems sometimes take the form of installing dry creek beds or drainage systems, such as French drains, but another possible route is simply landscaping with naturalized and native plants. Many native plants have evolved to grow in wet areas, so they're natural solutions to poor drainage problems.

"Native" plants is, of course, a relative term. After all, except for hybrids, every specimen is a native plant somewhere. A major criterion for inclusion in my "Top Native Plants for Wet Areas" is cold hardiness: entries on this list are generally hardy at least to zone 3.

Since the objective is to find hardy plants for wet areas, it should come as no surprise that many of these specimens are wetland plants in the wild. Some of these specimens you won't find at just any nursery. But if you conduct an Internet search for "wildflower society" followed by the name of the region in which you live, you may find someone who specializes in the sale of native plants in your area.

For those who prefer images to words, I have also drawn a sample landscape plan for wet areas. Though based loosely on the discussion here treating native plants, I do include one exotic plant in my drawing as well: the popular foliage plant, elephant ears.

Examples of Native Plants for Wet Areas

Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) shrub bears white flowers in May with dark green foliage. The foliage of these native plants (Eastern North America) morphs to red (and sometimes to purple) in the fall. Reaching a height of 3-5' and spreading out to 3-5', the plant tolerates the soil in wet areas better than most, making it a "living solution" to drainage problems.

The berries produced by black chokeberry grow in clusters and are a blackish-purple. Although not edible for humans, the bitter-tasting berries remain on the shrub into early winter and serve as an emergency food source for birds. Arrowwood viburnum shrubs provide another example of a white-flowered specimen with bluish berries and excellent fall foliage that is suitable to wet areas.

Winterberry hollies (Ilex verticillata) are native plants in Eastern Canada and the Eastern half of the U.S. Other common names for Ilex verticillata are "black alder," "false alder" and "fever bush." In nature winterberry shrubs typically call wet areas home, so homeowners who have wet areas on their landscapes can take advantage of this shrub's native predisposition and use it to solve drainage problems in locations where little else would survive. Winterberry holly prefers acidic soils. It can be grown in partial shade or full sun. Height and width will vary greatly, depending on growing conditions, but a rough average is about 9' x 9'. The berries of this shrub attract songbirds such as the bluebird and game birds such as quail. Winterberry holly is dioecious, so buy at least one male plant and surround it with the females that will bear the plant's beautiful red berries. Unlike the holly mentioned next, winterberry is a deciduous shrub.

Inkberry (Ilex glabra), a native plant in Eastern North America, is a more typical holly: it is evergreen. Reaching 6'-10' tall, it bears a black berry that gives this shrub its name. Clump-forming with shiny leaves, inkberry holly prefers full sun to partial shade, with an acidic soil.

On Page 2 we continue our look at native plants of Eastern North America that will tolerate wet areas on your landscape....