Sometimes Underused Wetland Plants Can Prove Beneficial in Landscapes

When people consider what to include in their landscape daily, flowering perennial flowers, shrubs, and early-blooming accent trees often come to mind. When someone mentions “wetland plants,” images of marshland usually appear in your mind. Water plants sometimes go underused because of associations that are not rooted in facts. The wide range of lovely aquatic plants tends to surprise more than a few people. If your property includes wetlands or traditionally moist areas, you may discover that deftly integrated water plants can benefit the land. The wetland plants we stock at our plant nursery also deliver a “wow” factor. By understanding how underused wetland plants can improve your landscape and reviewing the gorgeous aquatic plants available, you can make truly informed decisions about beautifying your property.

Why are Wetland Plants Important?

This plant life class typically inhabits areas prone to seasonal flooding or year-round standing water. Although commonly seen in and around ponds, lakes, and marshes, aquatic plants can also thrive in simply moist soils that do not necessarily filter water easily. For instance, hard clay and bedrock just below the topsoil can accommodate wetlands plants if surface water persists during dry seasons. Plants, shrubs, and trees associated with this class often deliver the following environmental benefits.

Critical Habitats: Aquatic plants help support a diverse ecosystem that allows fish and wildlife to flourish. Wetland plants also create root systems that contribute to water purification in essential areas. They typically help remove health hazards such as metals before reaching underground aquifers. Wildlife, fish, and humans can use water plants as food sources.

Land Stabilization: This class of plant life creates a fabric of roots that help secure shorelines. Their presence also mitigates the damage done by flooding. Property owners whose land abuts rivers and streams can use wetland plants to minimize erosion.

Wetland plants also serve as an environmental early warning system in a landscape. Tainted water can negatively impact these water plants. If leaves and stalks of these plants, shrubs, and trees sour, that may indicate compromised surface water.

Wetland Plants Provide Landscaping Solutions

The native shrubs, trees, and plants at our nursery thrive in areas along riverbeds and tracts with standing water. This improves the aesthetic value of spaces that property owners sometimes write off as too wet for flowering plant life. These rank among the attractive wetland options in our plant nursery stocks.

Bamboo Plant

Blue Joint Grass

Button Bush

Carpet Moss

Fern Moss

Bulrush

Iris Cristata

Iris Plant

Lady Fern

Milkweed

Ninebark Shrub

Red Cardinal Flower

Red Osier Dogwood Bush

River Birch Trees

Red Maple Trees

Black Willow Trees

Landowners who begin to rethink aquatic plants, trees, and shrubs as vital landscaping assets generally find they solve environmental issues and improve property values. Improved water drainage through the soil and the ability to prevent flooding from ravaging tracts of land act like an insurance policy. Integrating carpet moss strategically can also galvanize the ground against flowing water damage. Not to mention, the attractive foliage and beautiful flowers make them a quality-of-life investment.