Landscape Planting Along Creeks

Trees

• Plant willow for beauty and practicality. All varieties of willow grow fast, with black willow attaining a height and spread of more than 100 feet. Large, spreading root systems stabilize creek beds, preventing erosion. Catalpa, pin oak, river birch and lacebark elm also do well in wet soils, though elm can be susceptible to Japanese beetles and tends to have a short lifespan.

Shrubs

• Keep your creekside landscape blooming from spring to fall with water-loving shrubs. Swamp azalea and tartarian dogwood bloom in spring to late spring, followed by rose of Sharon's blue, purple, pink or white blossoms from summer into autumn. Virginia rose and elderberry can handle clay soils, and provide needed fruit for birds and wildlife. Try a few varieties of viburnum for their textured leaves and small, fragrant flowers.

Perennial Flowers

• Plant Siberian iris right along the water's edge, where it can get full sun. Many other "flag" irises can grow next to or in shallow water, in colors ranging from blue to yellow. Astilbe and loosestrife come back, year after year. You may need to thin loosestrife to keep it from taking over, or let it grow as it will, spreading long, purple flowers through summer. In subtropical environments, the carnivorous pitcher plant will grow in partially shaded, wet areas.

Bog Plants

• Fill the sunny banks of your creek with rushes. Cattails, bulrushes and flowering rush do well and spread quickly. Water-loving grasses such as horsetail, rice cutgrass and cordgrass have interesting textures and seedheads. Smaller, marginal bog plants such as dwarf cattail, zebra rush, pickerel rush, water canna and sweet flag fill out the list of plants that can be set in shallow water along a creek or stream.