Plant Drainage

Having a gorgeous garden and beautiful landscaping requires a number of things to be kept in mind while planning. One of the main things is plant drainage. Different plants have different drainage requirements, and the closer you come to providing what they need, the more they will thrive. There are three basic categories of drainage requirements for plants including wet, dry and average.

If you have areas in your yard that are very moist, there are a number of plants, trees, or shrubs that you might want to consider planting there. If you have the room, planting some weeping willows or bald cypress trees would add a great deal of beauty. They can reach a height of over 50 feet and love to have their feet very moist. Red twig dogwood is a shrub that grows to between three and six feet. For flowers, you could plant buttercups or lily of the kings, which is from the iris family.

For more drought resistant flowers you can consider planting agapanthus africanus (African Lily), dianthus spp. (pinks) which have those pretty fringed flowers, gaillardia (blanket flower) which is a like a flashy daisy, gaura flower, and heliopsis helianthoides (false sunflowers), just to name a few.

There is a vast number of plants, flowers, trees and shrubs that do well in soil that has average drainage. Some perennials that do well in soil that has average drainage and is in a shaded area are wolfsbane, bugle, lady's mantle, wood anemone, windflower, granny's bonnets, columbine, lily of the valley and foxglove. Whatever type of soil you have, there is some sort of foliage that will grow well there; just be certain to do a little research to make sure the drainage is appropriate for what you are planning on planting.