Plants for Permanently Damp Conditions: Hot Colours

James Lawrence, RHS Principal Horticultural Advisor, has designed this simple, attractive, and most importantly, sustainable border design for you to try at home with plants that are easy to grow, widely available and look good together.

This planting design provides a range of plants that, once established, will thrive in permanently damp soil and provide year-round interest, with predominantly hot colours. A simple planting plan helps to create depth, interest and good coverage in a border.

James Lawrence

Permanently damp soils are ideal for plants that would otherwise need frequent watering to grow well. Many streamside and pondside plants will thrive in these conditions.

The fiery-coloured stems of the Cornus provide winter interest. Ligularia, Astilbe and Bistorta provide height and summer flowers, potentially continuing into autumn. The mat-forming creeping stems of Lysimachia will provide effective ground cover and help suppress weed growth.

1 - Cornus sanguinea 'Anny's Winter Orange' is an upright deciduous

Deciduous refers to plants (mainly trees and shrubs) that lose their leaves seasonally, usually during autumn. This is a natural process triggered by the season's shorter days and lower temperatures and allows plants to conserve energy during the winter months.

shrub with orange and red stems.

2 - Cornus alba 'Sibirica' is another dogwood grown for its winter stem colour. The young stems of this cultivar

Gardeners often use the word variety when referring to a specific plant, but the correct botanical term is 'cultivar'. Whichever word you use, it means a distinctive plant or plants, given a specific cultivar name and usually bred to enhance certain characteristics, such as flower or fruit size, colour, flavour or fragrance, plant size, hardiness, disease resistance, etc. Additionally, it is worth knowing that, botanically, variety has another meaning - it refers to a naturally-occurring distinct plant that only has slight differences in its looks. For example, Malva alcea var. fastigiata differs from typical plants by having an upright habit.

are bright crimson.  

3 - Ligularia 'The Rocket' is a tall herbaceous perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

with strongly toothed, heart-shaped leaves and tall, dense racemes of deep yellow flowers on contrasting nearly-black stems.

4 - Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko' is a compact shrub with lance-shaped green leaves that often turn deep burgundy in autumn. Racemes of small, white flowers appear in late spring and early summer.

5 - Astilbe 'Fanal' is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial with dark stems, divided leaves and narrow, dense plumes of deep red flowers borne above the foliage in summer.

6 - Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' is a low-growing, mat-forming evergreen perennial with small, rounded chartreuse-yellow leaves and bright yellow, cup-shaped flowers.

7 - Bistorta amplexicaulis 'Fat Domino' is a herbaceous perennial that forms clumps of large, broadly oval leaves with pointed tips. Spikes of deep rose-red flowers are held above the foliage from mid-summer to late autumn.

8 - Osmunda regalis is a deciduous fern that forms an impressive clump of upright to arching green fronds. Emerging fronds are bronze-tinted in spring and then often display golden, rusty hues in autumn.

By choosing plants that are well suited to permanently damp soils, you can keep your border looking good and growing well, because plants that are planted in the right place tend to be stronger and more naturally resistant to pests and diseases. This will reduce the need for extra feeding and other inputs that less well-adapted plants might need.

Very damp soil can be an asset in summer but difficult to work in winter. Cold, wet root conditions are particularly hard for some plants. However, if your plants have adapted to naturally thrive in cold wet winter conditions, they will grow much better.

Using the ethos of ‘right plant, right place’ to create a sustainable planting combination is great for the environment. It helps avoid waste and the use of products and practices needed to try and help ailing plants, such as the application of fertiliser. It also creates robust, long-lived planting that benefits soil health and garden biodiversity

The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems.

. For more information about sustainable gardening, please see the RHS Sustainability Strategy .