Sachin

If you live in a marshy area, or if for whatever reason your yard doesn’t drain well and you find a lot of standing water in your yard there are a number of things you can do.

You could try grading your yard so that you create natural flows so the water can find its way through your landscape.

However, if you have a mature landscape, tearing it up to grade the yard may be too costly and too much work. Depending on how bad the water drainage issue is this may be a worthwhile option.

But before you start tearing it up, consider some of the other options available to you. For example, there are some drains like the French drain, which is placed below the ground level at the perimeter of your property.

This will also require you to tear up part of your property, but only along the perimeter and then the water is redirected out of your yard. Along with that, though, is the components may become costly depending on how much French drain you will need. However, what you if could simply plant some trees or bushes that would that require a lot of water, so planting them in those areas where you get standing water could eliminate the excess, allow you to keep your landscaping in tact and add some interest to your landscaping design and plans.

Maples are an excellent choice for your wet or water logged yards. Many of the maples are slow growing and they can become quite large, so make sure you plant them in a place where they have room to grow. You don’t want them too close to any sewer drains, water lines or septic tanks since they are great at finding tiny fissures and might cause one to break as its roots grow in to it. If you want a faster growing and beautiful red variety try the Autumn Blaze Maple. It gets glowing red leaves in the fall. For additional fall beautiful colors you can look at adding a Black gum to your wet landscape. These produce beautiful reds and yellows. A must have for multiple reasons!

Southern and Sweet Bay Magnolias are another couple choices. They grow large with massive white flowers for a beautiful floral show. Dogwood shrubs (check out red and yellow twig) will nicely compliment the magnolias. River Birch has typically been found along riverbeds due to its love of water. From the air you can often seen the lines of these birch trees outlining current or dried up river beds.

Some additional options you can investigate while determining what is best for your landscape are: Elderberry, especially the Black Lace or Black Beauty varieties. Get these for their water in take needs but also simply because they are stunning. European Alder (also known as Black Alder) are great for creating a thicket. These trees are suckering and they produce single stock trees. The Dawn Redwood is impressive, indeed. Found only in China naturally, they have successfully been planted throughout the entire world. They are fast growing and have been known to reach heights of up to 120 feet.

The last of the trees highlighted today is the Bald Cypress. These trees love the southern swampy areas. Also displaying beautiful fall foliage, it has been known to do well in places as far north as Minnesota and in the dry grassy plains of Texas. They are beautiful and functional if you have an area that naturally collects standing water.


Stewart Scott is a certified arborist and is the owner of Cevet Tree Care, where he offers the best tree service in Columbia, MO has to offer. Cevet has provided tree trimming and other tree care services to mid-Missouri for almost 20 years.