The Garden Community for Garden Lovers

Can anyone recommend a zone 6 hardy flowering shrub that likes wet feet but can tolerate dry conditions, too?

lisann

By Lisann

Maryland, United States Us

I have a row of forsythia that due to common community drainage changes are 'taking a hit' with water; especially when we have heavier rains like this year. My soil has been tilled but it is nearly all clay.

I believe the forsythia closest to the path of the water is the hardest hit. It is the one on the right side of the picture. I would like to move it and replace it with something that actually likes these conditions.

Any ideas? If at all possible, I'd appreciate a late summer bloomer.

Thanks SO MUCH!
Lisann



By_june2009_inprogress_010

Answers

 

That's a tall order - plants usually like either damp conditions, or dry, but I can't think of anything that doesn't mind both, except really boring and not particularly attractive things like possibly Prunus laurocerasus

16 Jul, 2009

 

Hi, Bamboo:

Thanks for the suggestion. I just planted a 'spotted laurel'; Aucuba japonica Crotonifolia in the front yard near where the sump pump outflows.

I have not seen the 'English Laurel';Prunus laurocerasus in our nurseries but I will look for them now!

Is there a particular type (cultivar?) you would recommend that won't get too large of a spread or that will tolerate shaping? I need the approximate spread of the forsythia back there which seems to be about 7 foot high and about 6 foot across.

Thanks,
Lisann

16 Jul, 2009

 

Weigela

17 Jul, 2009

 

Don't get prunus laurocerasus then - gets huge. What about the Mahonias? There are ones that get this high, plus others smaller - it's fairly tolerant. Only other thing that puts up with almost anything is Leycesteria, though its deciduous. I still think, though, that you will have difficulty getting anything to stay alive thats alternately dust dry or standing in water. Desert plants might survive that though!

17 Jul, 2009

How do I say thanks?

Answer question

 


Not found an answer?