Plants for Wet Areas Below is a list of candidate plants for the landscape that can tolerate varying degrees of wetness. Plants with an asterisk (*) following their name indicates that those species have been known to tolerate flooded conditions for extended periods of time.
Trees Shrubs Herbaceous Perennials and Shallow Acer negundo (boxelder) Aronia arbutifolia (red chokeberry) Water/Bog Plants Acer platanoides (Norway maple) Baccharis halimifolia (groundsel tree) Acorus calamus (sweet flag)* Acer rubrum (red maple)* Cephalanthus occidentalis (button Astilbe spp. (astilbe) Acer x freemanii (Freeman maple)* bush)* Butomus umbellatus (flowering rush)* Aesculus pavia (red buckeye) Clethra acuminata (cinnamon clethra) Calla palustris (bog arum)* Alnus glutinosa (black alder) Clethra alnifolia (summersweet) Caltha palustris (marsh marigold)* Amelanchier canadensis Cornus alba (tartarian Dogwood)* Canna x generalis (Water canna)* (serviceberry) Cornus sericea (red osier dogwood)* Carex spp. (sedge) Betula nigra (river birch)* Cornus amomum (silky dogwood)* Eleocharis acicularis (spike rush)* Carya aquatica (water hickory) Cyrilla racemiflora (swamp cyrilla) Eupatorium dubium (Joe Pye weed) Catalpa speciosa (catalpa) Dirca palustris (leatherwood) Equisetum hyemale (horsetail)* Celtis spp. (hackberry) Euonymus americana (American Hibiscus moscheutos (rose mallow) Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic euonymus) Iris ensata (Japanese water iris)* white cedar)* Fothergilla spp. (fothergilla) Iris laevigata (water iris)* Diospyros virginiana (persimmon) Hibiscus syriacus (rose-of-sharon) Iris pseudacorus (yellow flag)* Fraxinus caroliniana (Carolina ash) Ilex cassine (dahoon holly) Iris siberica (Siberian iris) Fraxinus nigra (black ash)* Ilex glabra (inkberry) Iris vericolor (blue flag)* Fraxinus pennsylvanica (green ash)* Ilex verticillata (winterberry)* Iris virginica (southern blue flag)* Fraxinus quadrangulata (blue ash) Ilex vomitoria (yaupon holly)* Juncus spp. (rush)* Larix spp. (larch) Illicium spp. (anise-tree) Leersia oryzoides (rice cutgrass)* Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) Itea spp. (sweetspire) Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) Maclura pomifera (osage orange) Leucothoe fontanesiana (leucothoe) Lobelia siphilitica (great lobelia) Magnolia grandiflora (southern Lindera benzoin (spicebush) Lysimachia clethroides (gooseneck magnolia) Myrica spp. (bayberry/waxmyrtle) loosetrife) Magnolia virginiana (sweetbay Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark) Myosotis scoparius (water forget-me- magnolia)* Rhamnus caroliniana (Carolina not) Nyssa aquatica (water tupelo)* buckthorn) Orontium aquaticum (golden club)* Nyssa sylvatica (black gum) Rhododendron arborescens (sweet Peltandra virginica (hardy arum)* Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora (Swamp azalea) Pontederia cordata (pickerel weed)* Tupelo)* Rhododendron atlanticum (coastal Sagittaria spp. (arrowwhead)* Nyssa ogeche (ogeechee tupelo) azalea) Sarracenia spp. (pitcher plant) Pterocarya spp. (wingnut) Rhododendron vaseyi (pinkshell Saururus cernuus (lizard's tail)* Picea glauca (white spruce) azalea) Schoenoplectus validus (soft stem Pinckneya bracteata (fevertree) Rhododendron viscosum (swamp bulrush)* Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) azalea) Scirpus americanus (common Platanus spp (planetree)* Rosa virginiana (virginia rose) threesquare)* Pseudolarix kaempferi (golden larch) Sambucus canadensis (elderberry) Spartina alterniflora (cordgrass)* Pyrus spp. (pear)* Spiraea tomentosa (hardhack) Typha spp. (cattail)* Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak) Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush Vernonia noveboracensis (iron weed) Quercus laurifolia (laurel oak) blueberry) Quercus lyrata (overcup oak) Viburnum alnifolium (hobblebush) Quercus nigra (water oak) Viburnum cassinoides (witherod Quercus nuttallii (nuttall oak)* viburnum) Quercus palustris (pin oak)* Viburnum opulus (European Quercus phellos (willow oak) cranberrybush viburnum) Quercus virginiana (live oak) Salix spp. (willow)* Taxodium spp. (baldcypress)* Thuja occidentalis (eastern arborvitae) Thuja plicata (giant arborvitae) Ulmus alata (winged elm) Ulmus parvifolia (lacebark elm)