Flowers with Wet Feet
Aquatic Milkweed
(Asclepias perennis)
With narrow leaves and pale pink seedheads, it’s not the showiest of milkweeds. But like its relatives, Aquatic milkweed is a host plant for monarch caterpillars. Each time the caterpillars devour the plant, it rebounds with more stems. It doesn’t have the milkweed clan’s typical fluffy parachute on its seeds, so ripe seeds drop to the wet soil below to germinate. Prefers full or part sun and moist to dry soil.
ASPE, OBL
Lemon bacopa, or Blue water hyssop
(Bacopa caroliniana)
The leaves of this aquatic groundcover give off a scent like lemon or eucalyptus when rubbed. In fact, the foliage can be used for a fragrant tea. Blue flowers appear midsummer among the 8” to 12” high foliage. Lemon bacopa likes consistently wet soil and part shade but doesn’t care for inundation. A perennial, it will reappear each spring.
BACA, OBL
Coastal Water Hyssop
(Bacopa monieri)
This groundcover with small white flowers and round succulent leaves is native to Texas and also enjoys worldwide distribution. Known as Herb of Grace, it has herbal medicinal uses. It thrives in full sun and moist soil, rarely growing over 6” high but creating a lush mat of foliage.
BAMO, OBL
Texas WATER CANNA
(Canna glauca)
Also known as Louisiana canna and Maraca amarilla, this species is the only canna native to Texas. It can be identified by its pale buttery yellow flowers atop light blueish green stalks up to 5’ tall. Despite being a host to species of skipper moth (which impact the appearance of the foliage), this rare beauty will grow in moist soil or up to 6” of water.
CAGL, OBL
Swamp Lily
(Crinum americanum)
In nature, Swamp lily can be found in shady, wet settings, but once it is established it is remarkably tolerant of dry and sunny conditions, too. That makes it perfect for rain gardens. The white summer-blooming flowers are fragrant at night to attract pollinators such as sphinx moths.
CRAM2, OBL
Blue Waterleaf
(Hydrolea ovata)
The deep blue inch-wide flowers in summer make up for Blue waterleaf’s little thorns. It has sprawling 2’ high foliage that can be clipped shorter. Drought tolerant when fully established, it prefers moist soil or even several inches standing water. This makes it an excellent candidate for raingardens and bioswales. HYOV, OBL
Gulf Waterweed
(Hygrophila lacustris)
Also known as Gulf swampweed, this humble-looking hydrophyte grows in shady Texas swamps and bayous. It’s one of the few rare aquatic members of the Acanthaceae (Acanthus) family. Gulf waterweed provides habitat while helping to protect the banks of water bodies from erosion.
HYLA, OBL
Texas spider lilies
(Hymenocallis liriosme)
Also called Spring spider lilies, these beauties bloom early in the year, highlighting wet fields and ditches with fresh fragrant white flowers while most of the landscape is still winter brown. As members of the amaryllis family, they grow from bulbs. Texas spider lilies are tolerant of soil that goes through wet and dry cycles, and prefer full sun.
HYLI, OBL
Southern blue flag iris
(Iris virginica)
Southern blue flag iris has the classic iris blooms: lavender to blueish-purple with yellow centers. The flowers appear for several weeks in March. In summer the plants go nearly dormant, but they rebound in winter with leaves of a blue-green color. Their lushness is welcome in winter when most other marsh plants are dormant. Nutria dislike the taste of this plant, which makes them a good selection for ponds where nutria have been observed.
IRVI, OBL
Swamp Smartweed
(Persicaria hydropiperoides)
Swamp smartweed makes a good 2’ tall ground cover for wet sites. Its sprays of tiny pale pink flowers produce seed for an impressive list of waterfowl. Humans can enjoy the peppery taste of the leaves of this buckwheat family member. All this and smart, too!
POHY2, OBL
Frog Fruit
(Phyla nodiflora)
Frogfruit, or fogfruit, makes a tough groundcover that’s nearly evergreen and sports tiny festive flowers throughout the warm season. It is equally at home in dry, compacted walkways or soil-free floating wetlands, in sun or part shade. It grows almost flat in pathways and up to 12” tall where it doesn’t get trampled. PHNO2, FAC
Pickerel
(Pontederia cordata)
Called Pickerel “rush” or “weed”, neither of which accurately describes this plant, it can grow to 2’ to 3’ tall and as wide in a summer. It does not mind standing water up to 12” deep if water levels are introduced slowly. Swallowtail butterflies and bumble bees are especially attracted to the spires of blue (or white) flowers.
POCO14, OBL
Giant coneflower
(Rudbeckia maxima)
Giant coneflower can be seen along the margins of diches in East Texas and northwest Louisiana. In spring, the rosette of large spoon-shaped leaves are blue-green like a cabbage leaf, and then the flowers emerge on 3’ to 6’ stalks in early summer. Everything about it is large! It’s adapted to rain garden conditions and is beautifully evergreen. RUMA3, FAC
Lizard tail
(Saururus cernuus)
Lizard tail is a useful shade-tolerant plant but in fact, when established it’s highly adaptable. It can thrive in several inches of standing water in full sun, or in plain garden soil in full shade. Something about Lizard tail disinterests nutria--perhaps the spicy scent of the roots and leaves. After the fragrant May blooms, the drooping green flower spikes look like the tails that give this plant its common name.
SACE, OBL
Powdery alligator flag
(Thalia dealbata)
Our Texas Gulf Coast native Thalia dealbata doesn’t get as much attention as its larger, showier cousin native to Florida, Thalia geniculata. However, Powdery alligator flag has attractive blue-green foliage 3-5’ in height, topped with purple flowers clustered on soaring spikes. Redwing blackbirds build nests that hang between stems of this plant.
THDE, OBL
Spiderwort
(Tradescantia ohiensis)
Spiderwort has a fresh grassy look in the winter, and begins to elongate in spring as blue or lavender flowers open each morning and close by midday. In summer, the 2’ leggy plant can be mowed or cut back drastically. This species will enjoy a rain garden’s alternating wet-dry cycles.
TROH, FAC
About the Plant Codes
The US Department of Agriculture codes plant species with a “symbol” that begins with the first two letters of the botanical name. Thus the symbol for Delta arrowhead, Sagittaria platyphylla, is SAPL. Wetland Indicator Status is the chance of a species being found in a wetland and non-wetland setting. The main use is to determine if a community of plants constitutes a wetland, and what the extents of the wetland may be (i.e., wetland delineation). Green Star specializes in OBL, FACW, and FAC species.