Plants that Like Wet Feet

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1 Plants that Like Wet Feet By Kristen Ryan, Dogwood Path and Ponds Intern 2011 What are they? Plants that like wet feet are plants that can tolerate a range of wet conditions. Some of them are naturally found on the marginal areas around streams and lakes and can live in up to 4 inches of water. Many of them do just fine in average and even dry garden soil. Why use them? They can help homeowners solve trouble areas: low spots, swales and etc. Which Plants? The following are plants that grow well at Mt. Cuba Center s wet areas and would do well in your garden. Mt. Cuba Center Internship Program The aim of the Mt. Cuba Center Internship Program is to introduce college students to many facets of working at a public garden that focus on native plants. Seven students in twelve weeks experience a myriad of activities from production to plant records and garden maintenance. Their experience is also enriched by fieldtrips and workshops. As one f the requirements of the program, each intern must produce a project. This is Kristen Ryan s project.

2 Plants That Like Wet Feet Kristen Ryan, Mt. Cuba Center, August 5, 2011 Photo 1 Asclepias incarnata swamp milkweed Plant type: Herbaceous perennial Size: feet Bloom description: Umbels of candy-scented pink to mauve flowers with each floret having 5 reflexed petals and an elevated central crown. Blooms July-August. Distribution: DE, PA, NJ, MD, VA, NC, SC, and GA Growing requirements: Full sun to part shade, can take anything from mucky clay soils to average garden soil. Prefers neutral to acidic soil. Pertinent Information: Self-fertile. Rarely propagates by asexual means. A clumper with fibrous roots, this is poisonous to livestock, especially sheep. Muskrats may nibble the roots. Historically used as a diuretic, diaphoretic, expectorant, emetic and even purgative. Diaphoretic effects have been found useful in acute pulmonary and bronchial affections and rheumatism. Photo 2 Asimina triloba pawpaw Plant type: Deciduous woody small tree Size: feet Bloom description: 1-2 cup-shaped dark purplish flowers in April May. Growing requirements: Generally an understory plant, pawpaws can take full sun to part shade, preferably in moist, fertile, acidic soil, though this plant can tolerate a range from average soil to damp areas along wetlands and streams. Pertinent Information: This plant is quickly becoming popular as a native fruit which ripens in early fall when clusters of the oblong fleshy fruit turn from a light green to brown. Asimina species are not self fertile, so two or more plants are needed for good fruit set. They can be eaten raw or cooked and have a banana-like flavor and a custard -like consistency. Native Americans would make strong rope with strips of the bark, and early settlers once used the pulp from the ripened fruit as a yellow dye. Betula nigra river birch Plant type: Deciduous woody tree Size: feet Bloom description: Catkins lasting from April May, with male and female flowers on the same tree. Better known for its exfoliating bark on young growth. Growing requirements: A characteristic floodplain tree, this fast-growing plant can tolerate a range of soil moisture from wet to average, but can become chlorotic due to dryness or iron deficiency in soils with a high ph. Pertinent Information: Habit can be single or multi stemmed. This birch is the one that can tolerate the most heat, though it is more susceptible to certain insects and diseases in warmer climates. The wood has been used for inexpensive furniture production as well as for local basket crafts. There has been some use of the pulp for paper production, but only when combined with pulp from other trees. River birch is very effective at preventing stream bank erosion, and feeds wildlife such as deer, moose, and porcupines, as well as several bird species. copyright 2010 Mt. Cuba Center Inc.

3 Photo 31 Carex grayi Gray s sedge Plant type: Herbaceous perennial Size: 2-3 feet Bloom description: Mace-like and green, the seed heads persist from May-October. Growing requirements: Full sun to part shade, this plant likes moist, sometimes average, fertile sandy to loamy soils. It is most often found in low moist areas in deciduous forests and along stream banks and shady seeps. Pertinent Information: Seeds float and are generally distributed by water. They are most often found in masses. Foliage is fed on by multiple Lepidoptera species. There are no known medicinal uses for this plant, and though the Carex genus was known to have been used by Native Americans for rope and cushioning in footwear, there is no evidence that this specific sedge was used. This plant was named after Asa Gray, , professor of botany at Harvard University, who wrote the Manual of the Botany of the Northern States. Hibiscus moscheutos swamp milk rose Plant type: Herbaceous perennial Size: 3 8 feet Bloom description: Showy 5-petaled white, pink, &/or red flowers from Jul Sept. Growing requirements: Moist to wet soil in sun to part shade, this hibiscus is generally found on the edge of salt marshes, swampy forests, or in upper-valley wetlands. Does fine in average soils when kept moist. Pertinent Information: Though it attracts many hummingbirds, this clump-forming plant is generally pollinated by bumble bees. Roots may have been used in the treatment of dysentery, lung and urinary ailments, and infusions of the dried stalks has been used to treat bladder inflammation. Flowers may be edible, as many other Hibiscus flowers are, but their specific use is unrecorded. Lindera benzoin spicebush Plant type: Deciduous large shrub Size: 6-12 feet Bloom description: Sweetly fragrant yellow blooms in early spring before leaves emerge. Followed by drupe fruits that are bright red later in the fall. Growing requirements: These are normally found in full sun to full shade on stream banks and on the edges of wetlands, but they do tolerate moist upland soils, especially where there is exposed limestone. The yellow fall color is best in full sun. Pertinent Information: The spicebush is a dioecious plant that is deer resistant. The leaves and stems are wonderfully fragrant when crushed and can be made into a tea, and the dried and powdered fruits can be used as a spice in cooking. Historically, the Native Americans used the bark and twig tea as a vascular stimulant, a blood purifier, and for sweating, colds, anemia, and rheumatism. A tea made from the berries was used for coughs, cramps, and delayed menses. It is the host plant for the spicebush and eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies and the promethea silkmoth. Migratory birds in the fall love this plant for shelter and for the energy the berries provide them. copyright 2010 Mt. Cuba Center Inc.

4 Liquidambar styraciflua sweet gum Plant type: Deciduous tree Size: feet Bloom description: Green flowers April May. Non-showy. Growing requirements: Sweet gums grow best in moist areas with slightly acidic soil and part shade. They can tolerate a range of soil textures from sandy to clay-loam. Pertinent Information: This tree is second only to oaks in hardwood production and is used for everything from furniture to pulpwood. It is a fast growing, shade providing tree that has a spectacular bright red fall color. The leaves are fragrant when crushed, and the sap and roots of the tree have been used for chewing, fragrance. Medicinal uses include dressing wounds, as an anti-diarrheal, and as a sedative. The tree provides nesting sites, shelter and food for various bird and mammal species. Sterile cultivars have been developed to avoid dealing with the woody mace-like seed pods in public areas. Photo 3 Magnolia virginiana sweet bay Plant type: Semi-evergreen shrub or tree Size: feet normally, up to 50 Bloom description: White solitary fragrant flowers 4-6 across that last for 2-3 days each and open in daylight and close at night. Blooms from April July. Growing requirements: Part shade in moist, rich, slightly acidic soils. This Magnolia tends to be multi-stemmed and deciduous in the north, and single-stemmed and evergreen in the south. Pertinent Information: Prune just after plants stop blooming, as this is a slowgrowing plant that is slow to heal, especially when dormant. Blooms attract nectarfeeding animals and insects. This plant is host for the sweetbay silkmoth. Native Americans would use this plant in a decoction to warm the blood, for chills and colds. Sweet bay is protected at the state level in MA, NY, PA, and TN. Photo 1 Matteuccia struthiopteris ostrich fern Plant type: Fern Size: feet Bloom description: Fertile fronds emerge mid summer and persist through winter, long after the sterile deciduous fronds have broken down. Distribution: DE, PA, NY, NJ, MD, and VA Growing requirements: Full to part shade in moist to average soil high in organic matter. This plant is rhizomatous and forms large masses. Pertinent Information: This is a very vase-shaped fern, which smells sweet when the fronds are crushed. Though ostrich fern will only grow to about 4 in this area, in cooler northern climates this plant has been known to reach 8. The fiddleheads/ crosiers that emerge in the early spring can be steamed and eaten. They are sold canned throughout New England, and it is the state vegetable of Vermont. It is host to the ostrich fern borer moth, which is rare in its New England range. The leaf stalks (stipe) of the sterile fronds may have been used in a decoction for back pain. copyright 2010 Mt. Cuba Center Inc.

5 Monarda didyma scarlet bee balm Plant type: Herbaceous perennial Size: 2-4 feet, occasionally 6 Bloom description: Red spikey blooms from May Oct Distribution: DE, PA, NY, NJ, MD, VA, NC, SC, and GA Growing requirements: Sun to part shade in moist to wet, rich, slightly acidic soils. This plant is Juglone tolerant. Pertinent Information: This is an aromatic plant that not only attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, but also people. It has a wonderful minty aroma and is still used in teas today. It was once used as a bergamot substitute in earl gray teas. Medicinally, it has been used to expel worms, treat gas, fever, and stomach ailments. The name bee balm comes from the use of the crushed leaves to soothe bee stings. There are many cultivars in the trade today from Petite Delight which is a dwarf pink form to Jacob Cline which grows to 36 and has a vibrant red colored flower. Saururus cernuus lizard s tail Plant type: Herbaceous perennial Size: 2-4 feet Bloom description: White nodding racemes that bloom from late Jun July and will bloom even in full shade. Sweetly fragrant. Growing requirements: lizard s tail almost always occurs as a marginal aquatic along stream banks or in wet, low-lying areas in full sun to shade. Pertinent Information: More common in the south, lizard s-tail can tolerate about 4 of inundation. The whole plant has a sweet citrus-like fragrance when crushed. It is a colonizer that is valued by wood ducks and other birds. Native Americans may have used this plant as a poultice on wounds and spider bites, as well as to reduce inflammation of the breasts and other areas of the body. May need to be planted in a pot when it is being installed in a pond to prevent it from taking over. Symplocarpus foetidus skunk cabbage Plant type: Herbaceous perennial Size: 1-3 feet Bloom description: Spathe and spadix flower 4-6 long and half as wide, purple and green speckled or striped. Flowers in late winter/early spring before leaves emerge. Distribution: DE, PA, NY, NJ, MD, VA, NC, and SC Growing requirements: Occurs almost always in wetland conditions in full to part shade. It likes damp, humus-rich soil. Pertinent Information: Any part of the plant when injured produces an unpleasant scent, especially the roots. The flowers can generate heat up to 70 degrees, melting the snow around them in the early spring. Pollination is thought to be by insects &/or wind. Young, uncurled leaves and roots are edible and can be roasted and ground for flower or boiled and served as greens. Native Americans used it medicinally for swellings, coughs, consumption, rheumatism, wounds, convulsions, cramps, hemorrhages, toothaches, and headaches. It is said to be highly prized in European aquatic gardens.

6 About the Author Kristen Ryan is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Floriculture with concentration in Greenhouse Production and Management from Delaware Valley College. She is expected to graduate in Kristen s career goal is to work in the field as grower/propagator or owner.