Plants in a wet/swampy area of yard

I've just been researching the same thing.
I'm digging a french drain to flow into a low spot.

From the Houston Chronicle:

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For your rain garden

Flowering plants: Turk's cap, Mexican petunia (ruellia), black-eyed Susan, yarrow, swamp milkweed, butterfly weed, canna, purple coneflower, daylily, spider lily, swamp ginger, Mexican mint marigold, lamb's ear, bee balm, 'Red Star' hibiscus, and a few varieties of iris including Louisiana and bearded

Shrubs and small trees: American beauty berry, yaupon, dwarf palmetto, possumhaw holly and Southern wax myrtle

Big trees: Southern swamp maple, river birch, bald cypress, pawpaw, and various native hawthorns.

Other plants: Many ornamental and native grasses do well in rain gardens, such as switchgrass, Indian grass and sedge. crossvine and Carolina jessamine work in both wet and dry conditions.

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Just bought a beauty berry. I like the purple.

Also on my radar are: Lamb's ear (pretty cool plant), bee balm, black eyed susan, Turk's cap, and Mexican Petunia.

Might do a mixture of flowering shrubs. I like the added benefit of privacy when they get big enough. It is a large area of my property line so something that grows 4ft or so outward would be great.

Did you graduate in horticulture?

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Did you graduate in horticulture?

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no my degrees are in the aquatic sciences but I worked for some years across the parking lot of a horticultural and agronomy department and know quite a few professionals in that field. I just have an interest in it, I’ve going through the master gardeners program. and anything I need to know or have interest in I read, teach myself and I know the professionals who to contact if I have question I can’t figure out on my own. How does the old saying go, “I know just enough to be dangerous..”

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What did yall do to remove grass while getting these areas filled in? And how did yall keep it from running back into these areas?

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Do you mean filled in with plants? I have a few low areas in the yard, I do get some runoff from neighbors, and I’ve installed drainage and graded to greatly improve the problem but still contend with some wet areas.

In those areas rather than spend a lot of time and effort with adding additional underground drainage I sprayed the grass with glyphosate herbicide but I did not remove the grass. I bought in bulk garden soil/mix, built raised landscape beds (about 12 inches high, it settles about 1/3 over time) directly over the grass I sprayed, and planted “wetland” shrubs in those “wet area” beds. Examples of plants in those beds are American Beautyberry, Henry Garnet Virginia Willow (sweetspire). It has worked fine - no issue associated with not removing the dead grass and saved me a ton of work, plants are doing very good. I might add I have a 26 year old bald cypress in that area and I’m sure it does it’s share of work in helping to remove excess water during heavy or extended rain events.

No magic bullet for keeping grass from running back into beds. I don’t use physical barrier edging, not my cup of tea, but no issue with those that do. I keep it suppressed by “weed eating” along the beds but 2 or 3 couple times a year I physically remove grass runners into those beds. Less work if you keep up with it before it gets out of hand.

I don’t know if that addressed the questions you are asking.

That did. Appreciate it!

Try using this to convey the water away from the house. LINK to hydraway

a description of natives to the gulf south in wet areas:

Overstory species in the habitat may include Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), sweet bay (Magnolia virginiana), red bay (Persea borbonia), loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus), tupelo (Nyssa spp.) and pines (Pinus spp.). It shares the understory with other plants such as sweetbells (Eubotrys racemosa), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), sweet pepperbush (Clethera alnifolia), titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), laurelleaf greenbrier (Smilax laurifolia), honeycup (Zenobia pulverulenta), and oaks (Quercus spp.)

Snakes will love this option.

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Shrubs and small trees: American beauty berry, yaupon, dwarf palmetto, possumhaw holly and Southern wax myrtle

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Sheesh, maybe on the edge, but not in the middle of a wet area. Beautyberry is most commonly found in upland areas in Louisiana. It's very similar to loblolly pine in that you will find it on the edges of swamps, but it's not a wetland species by any means.

The rest of their list is pretty spot on. I would definitely recommend Texas Star Hibiscus. Beautiful plant, makes big red flowers. Surprised that list didn't include buttonbush. Great wetland plant, very striking white flowers, and great for pollinators. Stay away from switchgrass unless you want it to take over. Copper iris is another great plant with a striking flower. In my opinion, nothing says spring like that beautiful copper flower atop that bright green foliage.