I hope you'll stick with me while I post a few more pictures. Although the leaves look very much like the Pale Indian Plantain, it's never developed a flower stalk and shows no sign of doing so although it is admittedly still early in the season. I took some pictures with hopes it will help identify it. These unknowns came up right next to the daylilies and I didn't want them there anyhow so they got selected for culling out. The same plants shown with most of the roots still attached and shovel to show scale. And the underside of the plant: The soil it's growing in is pretty much heavy clay. Thanks for looking and for assistance. Traudi

If you are interested in rain gardens, I am going to invite my Master Rain Gardener class to post in the Great Lakes Gardening forum here. Please come and help out newbie rain gardeners! I'd love your support and help from experienced gardeners. Sometimes the questions are general gardening, like how to remove sod, or other general questions. Your comments are welcome!

Hi BP, I'd like to do that one day. Tropicals require overwintering and I just don't have the space nor the time to take care of indoor plants. For now I'm concentrating on perennials only because I hardly have time to do any heavy duty gardening anymore :o(. Marginal pond plants are fascinating. I've not attempted to do anything like this before so things are rather new to me. It's a whole new look. Another problem that has cropped up in my backyard is a new bed I created in a shady part of the yard and it's starting to smell which tells me that I have a problem in that bed. Probably no oxygen and not enough organics. I'm going to have to redo the bed :o (

Hi Lizzy, You don't say how much sun the area is getting, so I can't be real specific, but here are some of the things that can take A Flood, but will be ok with "normal" watering too--but they're not xeric. These are for "mostly" sun. They're all different heights, some spread a lot and could be considered invasive (IMO), some are better behaved. LIke Digit said, Iris sibirica, Siberian iris loves water but can take "average" conditions too. All these Iris, too, can take lots of water but would be ok with average/regular watering. â¨Iris missouriensis (water plant) ⨠Iris louisiana (water plant) â¨Iris pseudoacorus (water plant) â¨Iris versicolor (water plant) ⨠Iris ensata (a/k/a I. kaempferi) - Japanese Iris - Some varieties can have flowers up to 12" across! Physostegia, obedient plant Monarda, bee balm - invasive and VERY susceptible to mildew! Asclepias incarnata, swamp milkweed - butterfly weed - spreads! Hibiscus moscheutos - 'Disco Belle' is about 4' - others taller! Mint - You don't really want to do that, do you?!! Liatris spicata, gayfeather - blazing star - bottlebrush flower Valeriana officinalis, valerian - but IMO the flowers on this one STINK! Galium odoratum - invasive - foliage smells like "fresh mown hay!" - sun or shade Ajuga - sun or shade Shade. Myosotis palustris, water Forget-me-not - some sun ok if wet Trollius, globeflower - sun probably ok with enough water Bergenia cordifolia - probably ok in sun with enough water Thalictrum, several different species - some sun ok if enough water And I've never grown them in truly wet conditions, but daylilies, Hemerocallis, are also supposed to do well in wet areas, but they do just fine too in dry to average conditions. That one does and always will seem counterintuitive to me, but mine do seem to do/look better when I water them more often! Sun. There are some ornamental grasses that can take a lot of water too--they'd be sun. A favorite of mine--I have one--is Panicum virgatum, switch grass - can even be grown in boggy conditions! I have P.v. 'Heavy Metal', and I love it. Steely blue foliage with "wispy" seed heads. Just some things for you to consider. If you have specific questions about any of them, let me know. If you give me more info about your light conditions and about if/how you plan to or are willing to water when we don't have rain maybe I can suggest a few more things. Happy spring, Skybird