Plants for Wet/Dry Fluctuations

Plants have evolved with and adapted to all sorts of individual stressors – heat, cold, drought, floods, wind, even fire. When a plant is perfectly well adapted to drought conditions, what happens when there’s a flood, or it rains all summer? How do plants that thrive in wetlands survive when it doesn’t rain for months on end? These plants, once established, can roll with the punches that come with vacillating conditions. Their ability to take periodically wet conditions and keep going when things dry out makes them excellent candidates for rain gardens. Plant them at the lowest part of a rain garden or bioswale where water temporarily collects, or on slopes where water occasionally runs down from above.