These colorful perennial plants need constant moisture and some will even grow in standing water.
The following perennial plants sweeten the deal by producing colorful flowers.
Canna
Add tropical flair to your landscape withcanna.
Credit: Lynn Karlin
It’s an adaptable perennial water-loving plant that can thrive in soggy soil andtolerate drought.
Over time, it spreads to form a dense clump, but it’s not usually aggressive.
This tall native plant is perfect for adding height to your garden.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Anchor it by growing shorter perennial water-loving plants in front of it.
Grow it as anannualin Northern gardens, or bring it indoors as a houseplant.
Ligularia’s heart-shaped leaves canform a hedgewhen planted in a row.
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
Golden Creeping Jenny
Cover the ground with ‘Aurea’creeping Jenny’s striking chartreuse foliage and bright yellow blooms.
Some flowers also have a dark eye in the center, making them look two-tone.
It does best in cool-summer areas.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
This native plant is very adaptable, and can thrive in almost any spot in your garden.
The long-lastingflowers are excellent for cutting, and they add elegance to any bouquet.
Sedge
Although it does flower, ‘Sparkler’ palmsedgeis grown more for its showy foliage.
Credit: Doug Hetherington
This variety is one of the dozens of grasslike plants in the sedge family.
They make an attractive low-growingornamental groundcover, too.
This heat-loving tropical perennial has graceful stems topped by an umbrella of narrow leaves.
Credit: Janet Mesic
Papyrus also develops small greenish-brown flowers from midsummer until fall.
In cold winter areas in the north, grow papyrus in pots andbring the plants indoorsbefore your first frost.
Move the plants back outdoors when the weather warms.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
This plant is also known as queen-of-the-prairie, a fitting name for thisMidwest native.
It grows best in full sun, but it tolerates some shade.
Like its close cousin, orange butterfly weed, swamp milkweedattracts monarchsand other butterflies.
Credit: Richard Hirneisen
In June and July, they produce spectacular 6-inch-wide blooms.
Pickerel weed is anative plantthat grows 2-4 feet tall with large, arrowhead-shaped leaves.
The flowers are alsoattractive to butterflies.
Credit: Laurie Black Photography
The plants grow 10-12 inches tall and produce small white flowers in the summer.
Corkscrew rush spreads slowly by underground rhizomes, so plant it in pots to keep it contained.
Swamp sunflower is a bushy giant of a plant, growing 5-8 feet tall by 4 feet wide.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
The variety ‘Low Down’, shown here,is a dwarf form that grows only 18 inches tall.
It’s prized for its stiff, upright, bamboolike, dark green, segmented stems.
Horsetail, or scouring rush, grows quickly by underground runners in moist soil or shallow water.
Credit: Bryan E. McCay
It can spread aggressively, so see to it to keep it contained.
Growing Conditions:Full sun, part shade, or shade in wet soil or standing water
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