Plants for wet clay: August 3

Late Sunday afternoon I made a quick tour of the garden and confirmed some of the keepers in my wet clay soil (mostly baked clay in July and August). First the old standbys, Filipendula rubra 'Venusta', Rudbeckia maxima, Miscanthus gracillimus (above and below). And now a major new addition, proven through winter, is Liatris pycnostachya, a little bluer in the photos than in reality. And above, an elegant spray of a native Scirpus. Below, in the foreground, a Hybiscus moschuetos not yet in bloom.


Joe Pye Weed and some rapidly naturalizing hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannibinum), give a colorful background, and contrasting shape, to the Liatris wands.


Last, white Physostegia virginica, yellow Patrinia scabiosifolia, and the giant leaves of Silphium terebinthinaceum. The Physostegia really thrives in the wet, as does the Silphium, which stubbornly refuses to flower (much) in its third year; no great loss since its foliage alone is enough for me. The Patrinia is surviving, but will take another year to prove its mettle.