I've just inherited a garden with a brook running along the bottom, which floods for a couple of days twice a year (autumn & spring). I've just pulled out a very dead hebe about 3' x 3' which was obviously zapped by the cold wet winter. Can anyone advise a shrub or small tree to fill the gap please? Preferably wildlife friendly and/or edible. Thanks.
Skirret was known as Marsh Parsnip so would be worth a try, I think chase have seeds and it is perennial so you don't have to eat it!
:-\
Coloured dog woods look great all year!
not really a tree or shrub -in fact definately not a tree or shrub but sounds ideal for a batch of watercress
Thanks for the responses, folks, I appreciate it. It's a strange patch of ground, as it only floods for a couple of days twice a year and yet dries out in summer and is a tiny frost pocket in winter! The soil is beautiful, like crumbly chocolate cake, and everything other than the hebe is thriving well. I took some dogwood cuttings in early spring, which seem to have rooted OK, so I will try transplanting those into the gap. Thanks again.
I may be in a minority of one but if I had a soggy patch I'd grow a gunnera. Just love 'em. ;D
I got one last year, but lost it in the cold weather. I'll try again.