In article , "HI HI-"
wrote:

X-No-Archive: yes
in my back yard towards the woods the ground stays somewhat moist. its =
partly shaded. im wanting to plant alot of trees back there. what =
trees would grow well in this soil? im in georgia.
thanks

Just yesterday I was visiting a little farm with very swampy land & high
watertable, so wet that for over half each year they have a waterfall that
seems to erupt right out of their property & runs down to a protected
salmon stream. I was interested to see what grew in this usually-damp
soil, some of it native trees that self-selected where they're growing, &
many fruiting trees. There were many very healthy hazels, hawthorns,
cottonwood, plums & pears, plus one big bush pussywillow, a big old
corkscrew willow, & a large magnolia. Everything as healthy as I'd ever
seen it in better-draining soil. Interestingly there were no birches,
though elsewhere I've seen a native birch growing even in unpleasant
roadside run-off swamps; I think they're really much more sensitive to
poor drainage than others though. Hazels & various willows are among the
sorts of trees that can suck up such huge amounts of water that they can
sometimes turn an overly damp area into dry ground, making it comfortable
for human use.

I don't think many trees actually prefer to be in standing water but it's
surprising what can be spotted growing right out in the middle of a
cattail swamp, for some trees drying out in summer seems to be drainage
enough. You might look around your region to see what NATURALLY springs
out of overly wet ground, & select either the pure native species that'd
like to grow right there naturally, or a cultivar in the same range of
species.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/