The selection of plants for SuDS devices is a tricky thing. The plants need to be able to cope with getting ‘wet feet’ in Winter. But then they may have to cope with weeks of dry weather in the Summer. And they need to be perfect for local wildlife, providing scrumptious pollen for flying insects, and edible roots for small rodents. At the same time, it would be great if they could provide dense, damp cover for beetles and amphibians to hide out from the sun. All this and looking good of course, with plenty of colour, flowers and interest for a long growing season! Quite a lot to ask for! So we were thrilled to spend time with friends from the Royal Horticultural Society at their glorious garden at Bridgewater in December as they guided us through some suggestions for plant selection. We were lucky to have a guided tour of the gardens afterwards, and we saw the United Utilities SuDS Garden, resplendent with it’s rain-chain trickling water down into the rain garden. Sometimes the best time to walk round the garden is in the pouring rain! If you are selecting plants for your SuDS scheme, be sure to get some expert help. But share your expertise too – if you plant something that works well, then please share that with everyone. And if something is a disaster and dies within weeks, or takes over the entire garden, share that too! We all need to learn from one another’s successes and disasters alike!
