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Planting in Poor Drainage
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Posted by pos02 NSW Aust (My Page) on Thu, Sep 29, 05 at 20:08
| Does anyone have ideas for a garden bed with poor drainage. The bed is about 1m wide, in front of a retaining wall 800mm high. I would like to keep the plants to about 1m high where possible. I have a couple of melaleucas which are doing well, as is a Baurea. There is also a callistemon. Most other plants seem to survive the dry periods, but turn up their heels each time we get some decent rain.
I would be looking for something with interesting foliage and different flower colours/shapes. The bed gets sun most of the day in summer, but only a few hours in winter. I don't want to have to raise the bed if I can help it, because the underlying soil will still be poorly drained. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Planting in Poor Drainage
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| luzulas, juncuses(i?) and some carex thrive on those conditions. There are also lots of fascinating ephemerals that would like that (but you'll have to be quite dillegent about weeding). I imagine you could do quite a spectacular garden with just these. The general family to look for is called 'marginal plants', for growing in the margins around a pond. If you want bushes, I have a red melaleuca growing in a plastic tray that is always full of water and it's doing great. leptospermum scoparium also seems to grow happily in these conditions. Alternatively, solve the drainage problem - make sure there is somewhere for the water to go, mix lots of organic matter into the soil or even use coarse gravel in the soil (makes it hard to dig, but many plants love it!). |
RE: Planting in Poor Drainage
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| Restio tetrapyllus is a rather pretty native wetland plant that will grow in wet areas and tolerate a bit of dry as well. It is probably a bit big, but Banksia robur is an excellent shrub for damp areas. |
RE: Planting in Poor Drainage
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| I've never had any luck with Restio (aka Baloskion) tetraphyllus in the ground. It just seems to give up after a few months. It does much better half submerged in a pond. |
RE: Planting in Poor Drainage
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| Brachyscome spc. probably won't mind and strangely enough kangaroo paws could cope as well. Callistemon sieberi or perhaps one of the C. citrinus cultivars are other bottlebrushes you could use. Other species to consider: Correas
Dianella
Grevilleas
Lomandra longifolia
Scaevola aemula |
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