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What do you grow around your waters edge?
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Posted by girlgroupgirl 8 Atlanta (My Page) on Tue, Feb 2, 10 at 7:36
Do you have a pond or wetland in your garden? What do you grow around the waters edge where it is moist but not constantly filled with water?
I have a dry creek and need some ideas for plantings, most of my ideas are all vertical plants such as water iris, water canna. I need more ideas, mainly for sun. Photos will be very helpful :)
Thanks,
GGG |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| I have ornamental ponds and live 2 zones colder - so be careful with my suggestions until you know they are OK. For instance, I grow equisetum behind one of my ponds but it would probably be quite invasive for you. Front pond: I have a Japanese maple Koto no ito, a weeping First Lady cherry, Iris ensata, white candytuft, Highland Cream thyme, summer snowflakes, lots of muscari in spring, equisetum and helleri holly. This one is in the middle of my rose gaden. The roses are all shades of pink, red and white and the pond maginals are all white and blue. Back pond: Ivy from Vassar collge (it's shiny green with smooth edges), a cotoneaster that sends horizontal branches over the pond, Salix nakamurana var. yezoalpina - a ground creeping and tumbling willow, some early anemones, chrysanthemum Silver Brocade, salix repens - silver foliage, variegated iris, iris versicolor Gerald O'Darby and siberian iris, and the whole thing is surrounded by Japanese maples; about eight of them. This is a foliage garden. In the pond are black colocasia and lotus. A few plants bloom but they are there for a short time. This bed is silver and green in spring and summer and all sorts of fall colors with the maples (planned for their fall color). Also have striped rush, black mondo grass, peach flambe heucheras, mayapples and arum Italicum near this bed. Hoping for Paris polyphylla this summer (WS yesterday!). I use a lot of horizontal plants around the ponds, but I would think your vertical plants would be just the ticket for a dry creek. I love the look of groundcovers and low spreading mat plants; but you may not! I think something like candytuft or thyme creeping at the base of your verticals would be very nice! And some upper-plane horizontals like a Japanese maple or Kousa dogwood - those are good for my clime! Have fun! Mickie |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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Mine's not fancy but here's a couple of pics of the edge of one small pool, sometimes they get wet feet but most of the time they're high and dry.
Mixed grasses, black mondo grass, ladies mantle, columbine. Also not showing irish moss, lithodora, georgia blue veronica, grape hyacinth, pratia, creeping thyme. Excuse the weeds, hadn't got to that yet. 
Annette |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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Annette what is that brown grass spilling out over the plant with the round green leaves?
tammy |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| I grow lunaria, trollius, siberian iris, rumex, sweet flag, primula (japanese kind), creepers like creeping jenny (careful - invasive) |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| Tammy, it's Carex flagellifera (weeping brown sedge). The others are another brown grass Carex buchananii, in the pot Carex 'The Beatles' looks much nicer later on, the lime-green one is Carex elata (Bowles Golden aka ‘Aurea') the one with green and white stripes is Carex hachijoensis (japanese sedge). The black mondo is Ebony knight. |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| I also have a small streambank running through my property. I have to heavily plant to keep the bank from erosion when we have heavy rains. The pictures that I show are from my flowering perennials. Most I've grown from seed. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Flowering plants along my streambank
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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Thank-you! I am looking for a mix of low growing stuff, sedges that can take moisure (the hard part is I also have much hot sun), and many of the things herblady has in her garden. I have one sunny area that will be very much dedicated to "wilder" plants and other spaces dedicated to lower growers not far from the patio and hammock areas.
My soil there will probably never be dry as these are unlined water ways - unlike a "real" pond, everything I have has been created to empty and not stay full. The City of Atlanta would not permit any holding ponds or pond areas on my property for some unknown reason.
I would like to add some small and tall grasses but I'm not sure what can take wet feet besides white star grass. I also have a LOT of clay in these areas as the workmen used clay to stabilize things. It drains well though :) Thanks!
girlgroupgirl |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| Violets are always nice too. |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| In the dry stream - 6 inches of rain when it comes down; drought when it doesn't rain for weeks; full sun except where taller plants shade; southeast-southwest lengthwise exposure (the very hottest). *Japanese irises
*echinacea (pink ones, not new hybrids)
*monarda leucanthemum (first trial this year and they are still evergreen in spite of many torrential winter rains)
carex - some can take more sunshine than others.
amsonia hubrichtii - planted a bit away from the deep parts, provides shade to smaller plants
hardy ageratum - make get toasted toward the end of summer so cut back and you'll have more than you can believe again the next summer. *swamp sunflower - helianthus angustifolius 'First Light'
*salvia uliginosa (bog sage - blooms all summer)
*asclepias incarnata (the pink ones do the best)
*canna anemone (shaded by other plants) It's really not the summer that is the problem. Survival seems to be more about the plants that can handle the wet winter. I put * beside the ones that I think are the easiest and provide the best results with minimal care. Cameron |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge? more
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| I wanted to mention that since my dry stream is in deer country, I don't grow a lot of plants that will work for you. Daylilies, for example, would work. ginger and will move a colocasia to the dry stream this year. spirea was moved closer to the wet soil in the fall. They are deciduous, but they seem to be fine so far this winter. was growing a beautiful hibiscus 'Blue Satin' until the deer ate it! Gorgeous blue with ageratum growing with it. I am looking through my 10,000 photos trying to find some good examples! |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| Annette, that's beautiful. I love the contrast of the black grass. |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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Well now they are talking about heavy duty underground piping and that wouldn't leave any dry creek :(
Since we moved here I envisioned a dry creek back there. I hope somehow we can make it work to get SOME water in the creek and some not so much. Water man came out today and was very helpful. He is researching topography of the yard for me, back as far as can go. Such a nice fellow! GGG |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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| GGG I'm happy to hear your troubles are finally getting resolved. I was wondering how things are turning out for you. No worries though because I'm sure you'll still be to create your stream and it's not too hard. I created a pebble pond just next to my dry creek(if you recall this is my underground water pipes to lead the excess water out to the drain) So you might be able to have your water ways with all the plants you want. |
RE: What do you grow around your waters edge?
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I had ice plant growing beside my pond. (Had because we moved and I don't have a pond anymore.) In the picture it is trimmed back a bit but it grew right down into the water and seemed to love it. On the right hand side of the picture is some kind of common ground cover sedum. It grew into the water too and did fine.  |
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