7 Beautiful Shrubs That Like Wet Soil

A dense shrub with slender leaves — Credit:
Getty Images

Shrubs are a mainstay of landscaping, offering privacy, preventing soil erosion, and providing interest to your property. To achieve the best success with shrubs, it's important to pay attention to your soil’s moisture levels. Many shrubs prefer well-draining soil with medium moisture, meaning it can be challenging to find suitable varieties if your soil is wet.

Luckily, there are plenty of shrubs native to wetland or boggy regions that withstand damp conditions. To help you find the perfect options for your landscape, we spoke to gardening experts who shared their favorite shrubs that like wet soil. While these plants can’t survive in puddles that take hours and hours to drain, they will thrive in the boggier, damp areas of your yard.

Lorraine Ballato, a garden and hydrangea expert, and the award-winning author of Success With Hydrangeas: A Gardener's Guide
Eva Monheim, ISA-certified arborist and author of Shrubs and Hedges

01 of 07

Summersweet

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) is a native, deer-resistant wetland shrub that is fond of wet soil. This lovely shrub features pink or white flowers, depending on the variety. "The flowers are extremely fragrant and beloved by pollinators," says gardening expert Lorraine Ballato, adding that it is great for late-season color and fragrance.

Zones: 3 to 9
Size: 3 to 8 feet tall x 4 to 6 feet wide
Care requirements: Full sun to partial shade; moist soil

02 of 07

Tri-Colored Willow

tri color dappled willow — Alexander Denisenko / Getty

Tri-colored willow (Salix integra 'Hakura Nishiki') is prized for its showy foliage. The branches display stunning pink stems and buds surrounded by foliage with white, green, and pink highlights. "You can cut it down to about a foot each spring to get the best color or let it grow to its expected large size," says Ballato. She explains that the new growth (only foliage, no flowers) emerges in colors of white, pink, and green. The most vivid colors are found on new growth. As a member of the willow family, this resilient plant loves moisture.

Zones: 4 to 9
Size: 15 to 20 feet tall x 15 to 20 feet wide (can maintain a smaller size with pruning)
Care requirements: Full to partial sun; moist, well-draining soil

03 of 07

Shrubby Dogwood

It's easy to love a shrub that offers winter interest when so many other plants are losing their appeal for the season. "Shrubby dogwoods (Swida) are great for wet sites," says Ballato. The beautiful foliage can be either green or variegated, but Ballato notes that the best part of this plant is its colorful winter bark. "It can turn red or yellow, depending on which one you have," she says. "The deer in my area have not eaten it (for nearly 35 years!)."

Zones: 2 to 8
Size: 3 to 10 feet tall x 3 to 10 feet wide
Care requirements: Full to partial sun; rich, moist, well-draining soil

04 of 07

Blue Huckleberry

A branch of a plant with clusters of small round berries — Mary Keim / Flckr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Blue huckleberry (Gaylussacia frondosa) loves to grow along the edges of ponds and bogs, which makes sense considering the fact that it prefers moist soil. This shrub produces lovely flowers followed by edible fruit. According to ISA-certified arborist Eva Monheim, blue huckleberry is a common plant found along the Eastern Seaboard. The blueberry-like fruits are attractive to humans and wildlife. "This species is an important plant for birds and other wildlife," says Monheim. "Butterflies and other pollinators are attracted to the flowers, while the berries attract wild turkey, grouse, scarlet tanagers, and bobwhites, to name a few."

Zones: 5 to 9
Size: 2 to 4 feet tall x 2 to 4 feet wide
Care requirements: Full sun to partial shade; porous, acidic soils

05 of 07

Sugar Shack Buttonbush

Flowering plant with spherical blossoms growing among green leaves — Martine LIU / Getty Images

Another shrub that enjoys damp soil, Sugar Shack buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis 'Sugar Shack') produces circular blooms with small spikes. "This plant can stand in water or sit by the edge of a stream or pond and provides numerous benefits for the environment," says Monheim. "Buttonbush attracts a multitude of pollinators, including butterflies and a variety of bees and other pollinators." She recommends putting this plant in a rain garden, near a damp seep, or in a container with slow drainage.

Zones: 4 to 10
Size: 3 to 15 feet tall x 3 to 15 feet wide
Care requirements: Full sun to partial shade; moist soil

06 of 07

Dusty Zenobia

A dense shrub with elongated clusters of small blossoms hanging among the leaves photographed outdoors — Getty Images

Dusty zenobia (Zenobia pulverulenta) is a small shrub with attractive, delicate, dangling blossoms. "Zenobia is a rare plant from the South, which should be used much more than it is in riparian areas," says Monheim. "It does well on slopes and in quickly draining soils and with bog plants along the edge of a pond." She especially loves the 'Woodlander’s Blue' variety, which boasts beautiful bell-shaped flowers. "These can get tall and have lanky stems toward the base—underplanting is an excellent idea to add additional interest in the garden," she notes.

Zones: 6 to 9
Size: 3 to 10 feet tall x 3 to 10 feet wide
Care requirements: Full sun to partial shade; moist, well-draining, slightly acidic soil

07 of 07

Swamp Azalea

Dense shrub covered in small white flowers surrounded by green foliage — honza28683 / Getty Images

As the name implies, swamp azaleas (Rhododendron viscosum) do well in wet soils, says Ballato. "It's a fragrant, early-season bloomer that helps us welcome the upcoming season," she notes. Swamp azalea is very tolerant of wet soils, so keep it in mind for areas of your property where occasional standing water prevents most other options from thriving.