I wasnt sure what forum to post this in so I posted it in a few, Im sorry for any inconvenience.
I live with my parents, and theyve had their house for only a couple of years. Its located downhill from the neighbors, and for the past year, theyve had a lot of trouble with the excess rain pooling up in the backyard. There is a trench that was dug out by the previous owners, and it helps, but since it doesnt reach the street, it still pools up at the end of the trench. Weve lost 3.5 trees in these two years (2 from hurricane sandy, one from all the flooding and snow build up, one snapped off at the top half but it was already dead). What can we do to help ease all this flooding? The backyard turns into a marsh after a good rain. There are several places where the water pools up. I tried convincing them to let me create a french drain out of the trench but they are very nervous about installing anything or changing anything about the land. Is there anything else we can do? Are there types of plants that can we can plant to soak up most of this water? I think hostas would do that (right?) but those dont last long, we have a lot of deer. I read that elephant ears are good water� er.. suckers, but they would also need to dig the bulbs up before every winter. Any suggestions? We live in central new jersey, zone 6b-7a.