Three trees to plant in wet areas of your garden

It is probably not something a lot of the householders around Gloucestershire or along the banks of the many swollen or burst rivers around the country are willing to think about at this moment in time but if you have a constantly wet garden, what trees can you plant that will thrive?

One of my favourites is the deciduous Taxodium distichum  - Swamp Cypress - there was (and I hope still is) a fantastic specimen in Mrs Chaplin's, Pond Cottage garden in Rogate Combe near Hill Brow,  Liss. Unfortunately, it was hidden a little bit from sight but it set itself on fire and then changed to a banana yellow before losing all of its leaves.

It will live quite happily in saturated to waterlogged soil (as long as it does not reach the branches) and will throw up a kind of periscope if the submersion is prolonged over a number of years)

Salix Babylonica - Weeping Willow - I had one of these in my garden in Oakhanger and what pleased me the most was, it was the first tree in the garden for the leaves to come out in early Spring. Even in the hardest of frosts the buds would be opening and the Blue tits scrambling for the fresh succulent feed.

The soil there was dry  and free draining sand so the Weeping Willow it seems will grow almost anywhere. Be warned, The Weeping Willow is a very fast growing tree and unless you have space it will quickly dominate or outgrow the area you put it in.

I had a big problem with root invasion into an old pitch sewer pipe. On more than one occasion, the pipe blocked and I pulled out roots that were over twenty feet long and had completely choked the pipe up.

You will also find that the vigorous twigs are messy and will need a fair bit of cleaning up but all in all a great tree to put in a very wet area. I bet, when someone mentions a tree next to water, 9-10 times you will visualise a weeping willow?

Betula nigra - River Birch - This North American species will thrive in wet conditions and grow fast too. It will reach 20 feet in a short space of time and provide an attractive bark as well.

Scientists find fossilised Swap Cypress in Hungary

Comments

[Luke]

I have seen a few sites suggest willows in wet areas and along rivers. I was taught that willows are terrible along Australian rivers and have caused lots of problems. In some towns I thoughts they had started removing all the big old willows and replacing with native rover plants. Is this correct?