Native Species Recommendations: Moist to Wet Meadows/Woodland Edges

We frequently get asked for advice on what native species would be best suited for gardening projects in homegardens, school yards, and places of worship. We get it, starting a new project can be very overwhelming! Once the prep work is done: removing invasive plants and lawn, how do you start planting? How do you replicate a native plant community when what you started with was just lawn?

If you’re interested in a deeper understanding of these questions, then the Earth Sangha’s Native Plant Compendium is the perfect place to start. Our Executive Director Maddie wrote it with both the home gardener and restoration professional in mind. It covers everything from “how to choose plants for your garden”, “how to read the landscape”, “what is a native plant community”, “high value generalist plants for every garden” and more.

But, if you’re like me and don’t have much extra time on your hands, but are eager to plant then here’s the abridged version! Choosing generalist species allows you to get started and gives you a foundation to later apply a more plant community-based approach by focusing on species that occur across a wide range of natural communities.  Here we’re highlighting some easy-to-grow natives that are known to be high value to wildlife.

These are all species we either currently have in stock or will have in stock this year. You can view our inventory here: https://www.earthsangha.org/wpnlist

High Value Generalist Plants for Every Garden:

Full Sun to Part Shade, Moist to Wet

Graminoids (grasses, sedges, and rushes):

For wet areas that require robust sedges we recommend Carex crinita, C. frankii, C. intumescens, C. lupulina, C. lurida, C. squarrosa, C. typhina. All can tolerate a range of moist to wet habitats including various floodplain forests, swamps, wet meadows, ditches, and wet disturbed areas.

Coleataenia anceps (Beaked Panic Grass) – very drought tolerant (and occasionally a major constituent in dry meadows too). C. anceps spread rapidly and produces short rhizomes.

Dichanthelium clandestinum (Deertongue Grass) – the biggest and most robust of our native Dichantheliums is a common site in wet meadows. An excellent choice for areas that flood and then dry out whether shady or sunny.

Dichanthelium scoparium (Velvet Panicgrass) – Edges of ponds, wet disturbed habitat, edges of moist to wet forests. Does especially well in swales that are seasonally wet and dry.

Elymus spp.  -- The Wildryes: Most of our native grasses are “warm season,” the Elymus spp. are “cool season” and emerge much earlier in the season. Elymus virginicus occurs on the edges of riparian and floodplain forests and into associated meadows, and occasionally into drier sites. E. riparius is specialist of riparian areas as well as floodplain forests and occasionally into drier slopes in those areas.

Juncus canadensis (Canada Rush) – Wet open areas with periodic flooding, ditches, pond edges, etc. Pictured below left.

Juncus effusus (Soft Rush) – Common throughout a variety of wet forests, edges, ponds, ditches, etc. Less drought tolerant than the sedges, and generally not as dominant until you get into standing water. Great for shallow ponds.

Scirpus georgianus (Georgia Bulrush) – Various wet forests and wet meadows, ponds, ditches, and disturbed habitats. In the wild locally more common than S. atrovirens.

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Forbs (Wildflowers):

Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) – not as aggressive as common milkweed, but nonetheless just as critical to Monarch populations.

Conoclinium coelestinum – Blue Mistflower: Edges of floodplain forests, swamps, and ecotones between other wet to moist forests and meadows. Forms colonies with long rhizomes and has a tendency to “migrate” around a garden. Pictured below left.

Coreopsis tripteris – Tall Coreopsis: Variety of habitats in both wet and dry conditions in woodland edges and meadows. Especially happy in areas that seasonally get wet and then dry out.

Doellingeria umbellata (Flat-topped White Aster) – a tall common, white-flowered aster of moist to wet meadows. Picture below right.

Eupatorium perfoliatum (Common Boneset) – Wet meadows, pond edges, ditches, and open areas and edges of various wet forests and riparian areas.

Eupatorium pilosum (Rough Boneset) – Wet to moist meadows, clearings, bogs and other open habitats.

Eupatorium rotundifolium – Roundleaf Thoroughwort: Wet to moist forest edges and meadows. Occasionally into mesic and dry-mesic meadows and clearings. Pictured below center.

Euthamia graminifolia (Grass-leaved Goldenrod) – this robust drought-tolerant goldenrod can be found occasionally in drier meadows but thrives in moist to wet meadows.

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Eutrochium fistulosum (Hollow-stem Joe Pye Weed) – more typical of moist to wet woodland edges but populations can certainly occur in full-sun areas. Attracts various large butterfly adults like tiger swallowtails and monarchs. Pictured below center.

Helenium flexuosum (Southern Sneezeweed) – Wet to moist meadows and riparian areas. Less common than H. autumnale. Pictured below left.

Helianthus giganteus (Giant Sunflower) – Wet meadows and disturbed areas and edges of wet to moist forests.

Helianthus angustifolius (Narrow-leaved Sunflower) – Persistently wet meadows, ditches, and bogs. Non rhizomatous, unlike other common native Helianthus species. Pictured below right.

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Hibiscus moschuetos (Swamp Rose Mallow) – tall and robust with white to pink flowers. Prefers standing water in marshes, swamps, and pond edges, but can adapt to wet rain gardens or ditches too. Pictured below center.

Iris versicolor (Large Blue Flag) – Ponds, marshes, and other open wet habitats. Pictured left bottom.

Ludwigia alternifolia (Seedbox) – Open wet areas like marshes, ponds, ditches, and other sunny wet areas. Picture below right.

Potentilla simplex (Common Cinquefoil) – A great groundcover for floodplain forests swamps, riparian areas and into mesic forests. Common in wet to mesic meadows, clearings, and forest edges.

Pycnanthemum tenuifolium (Narrow-leaf Mountain Mint) –  P. tenuifolium is far and away the most common and can inhabit a wide range of wet to dry meadows and forest edges. The more erect P. muticum prefers moist to mesic areas.

Rhexia virginica (Virginia Meadow Beauty) – Wet meadows, pond edges, and edges of wet forests and in wet disturbed areas. Pictured below left.

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Rudbeckia laciniata (Green-headed Coneflower) –

far taller than our other native Rudbeckia spp. Can occur in dense stands and is shade-tolerant enough to grade into woodland edges. Pictured below left.

Solidago rugosa (Rough-stemmed Goldenrod) – S. rugosa is common along mesic to wet forest edges.

Symphyotrichum lanceolatum – Panicled Aster: Moist to wet meadows, and into floodplain forests, riparian areas, and other moist to wet open habitat.

Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Calico Aster) – Common throughout a wide variety of forests, forest edges, and clearings ranging from wet to dry.

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England Aster) – Wet meadows, also frequently naturalized from gardens.

Symphyotrichum pilosum (Frost aster) – Very versatile aster found in dry to wet meadows and floodplain forests. Great for late season pollinators.

Teucrium canadense – Canada Germander: Floodplain forests, swamps, and associated edges and into wet meadows.

Verbena hastata (Blue Swamp Verbena) – Floodplain forests, alluvial/riparian meadows, other well-drained moist forest edges. Pictured below center.

Vernonia noveboracensis (New York Ironweed) – a common constituent throughout our moist to wet meadows and grades into forest edges. Flowers are particularly attractive to skipper butterflies.

Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander) – an early-blooming forb of riparian areas and edges of wet forests and into meadows. Pictured below right.

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Trees and Shrubs

Acer rubrum – Red Maple: One of our most common trees found in pretty much every local plant community in a wide variety of habitats.  

Alnus serrulata – Smooth Alder: Various wetland forests. Somewhat more common in non-alluvial wetlands than alluvial floodplains.

Betula nigra – River Birch: Floodplain forests and edges, stream banks, and other riparian areas both as a short canopy tree or in the understory. Grows quickly. Pictured below.

Sambuccus canadensis (Elderberry) – a relative of the edible European elderberry. This shrub can grow densely in moist-mesic down to areas with temporary standing water. The berries are excellent forage for birds

Cephelanthus occidentalis (Buttonbush) – An excellent butterfly-attractor in wet areas that are either saturated or, more commonly in the wild, wet and well drained (think rocky bars in rivers).

Prunus serotina – Black Cherry: Abundant across wet to dry forests especially in successional and disturbed habitats and along edges. Very ecologically productive between the fruit, flowers, and insect herbivores. An excellent choice for edge habitat.