On Mon, 5 Apr 2004 12:57:21 +0100, homer wrote:

No that's not how people describe me! Its the state of part of my garden.
What kinds of flowers/shrubs/plants tolerate or even prefer these
conditions? I'm looking for something that's colourful, pretty and can take
care of it self (sort of like Wonder Woman!)
It must like wet soil and the occasional glimpse of the sun.

A favorite local spot of mine for appreciating nature is a damp
woodland along the Robertson River, always damp, flooded in
winter. A few of the plants that grow there have garden
potential. Among them:

--a moisture loving veratrum. I can't tell you if it's V. viride
or V. californicum. The leaves are quite amazing pleated affairs
when they start to emerge in spring, though once they mature
they're no great shakes.

--Erythronium revolutum (pink fawn lily; most western
erythroniums prefer drier, sunnier positions)

--Asarum caudatum (so-called wild ginger, sprawling mats of large
leaves; there's a patch of it nearly half an acre in extent)

--Rubus spectabilis (the salmon berry; there is a double-flowered
form)

--Viola glabella (yellow violet)

--various Vaccinium species

--Trillium ovatum (a white trillium; many trilliums are moisture
lovers)

You can get seeds of these from the seed exchange run by the
Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia, and seeds of them are
often donated to exchanges of the Alpine Garden Society and the
Scottish Rock Garden Club. Look for wild-collected seeds in
particular, and pay attention to the situs of the collection.



There is also a wide range of plants currently being introduced
from China that seem to prefer fairly damp conditions; my
experience has been that they rapidly decline and die in
summer-dry positions.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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