The fact that you have those reeds tells you the soil conditions, as well as the existing raised beds in stone. Things like flag Iris would fill that no bother, but if you want other types of plants, you'll have to amend the soil in some way. Gunnera and bog plants. I'm slightly confused as to where the stream is in the pic. Is that it in behind the area Loxley drew in red? We had a similar situation at the last house. The main pond was stream fed, and then it linked to another smaller pond. All the overflow simply ran through the grass, and down to the boundary, with any excess gradually leached out through the ground and into the corner of the neighbouring field and grass verge etc. We had flag irises on the boundary and loads of marsh marigold [Caltha] round the edges and everywhere else when it seeded, and there was a load of daffodils and snowdrops along the boundary fence, plus an established fir which soaked up a lot of excess. They coped with the permanently damp conditions [and the rabbits] no bother. I added some Astilbes and a few bits and pieces round the smaller pond edges, which were all fine. Other than that, we left it. It would have been a very big expense to try and mess about with it too much.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I put the stone raised beds in for a different issue - rubble and an inch of topsoil - nothing would grow because of the stone. I've just taken out half a yellow flag from the pond area, spread like crazy and don't want anything that tall there .. I think I will hang fire with doing anything there and see what happens this winter now that we've cleared the stream and added more to the stream wall on that side. Will look into amending the soil there to improve drainage - if all else fails at least I know hosta will like it there. I could even resow the grass. The stream is as you said, right behind that red area in the pic, it really narrows up there so we are going to widen the walls - well at least try to find the original lined wall on the opposite side but I'm convinced it was so wet because it was filled with mud. x
I hadn't realised you put the raised beds in. It's just a bit difficult to judge it when we're only seeing a tiny part of the site. I wonder if the stream was originally covering that whole area? Someone has then filled it in - not very successfully, or it's just been allowed to gradually fill by itself with soil/silt carried along. Is that a possibility? The simple solution may be to dig out the area a bit more - and deeper, and allow the water somewhere else to go. Then plant accordingly, in the 'new' edges that would create. Or - plant willow, Gunnera, and more Iris - but contained in old tyres or similar.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
We had the stream and pond put in eight years ago and you're right it's been allowed to fill with silt - it runs under a mountain of trees too so all those leaves have decomposed in there, I make leaf mold and always astounded at the amount of mold I get from one large bag of leaves so imagine years worth building up in the stream - it's our fault for not doing anything about it until now. I'm sure I've seen edging made of recycled tyres that you can part submerge into the ground, might be worth putting some at the side of the stream there. x
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Things like flag Iris would fill that no bother, but if you want other types of plants, you'll have to amend the soil in some way. Gunnera and bog plants.
I'm slightly confused as to where the stream is in the pic. Is that it in behind the area Loxley drew in red?
We had a similar situation at the last house. The main pond was stream fed, and then it linked to another smaller pond. All the overflow simply ran through the grass, and down to the boundary, with any excess gradually leached out through the ground and into the corner of the neighbouring field and grass verge etc. We had flag irises on the boundary and loads of marsh marigold [Caltha] round the edges and everywhere else when it seeded, and there was a load of daffodils and snowdrops along the boundary fence, plus an established fir which soaked up a lot of excess.
They coped with the permanently damp conditions [and the rabbits] no bother. I added some Astilbes and a few bits and pieces round the smaller pond edges, which were all fine. Other than that, we left it. It would have been a very big expense to try and mess about with it too much.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I wonder if the stream was originally covering that whole area? Someone has then filled it in - not very successfully, or it's just been allowed to gradually fill by itself with soil/silt carried along. Is that a possibility?
The simple solution may be to dig out the area a bit more - and deeper, and allow the water somewhere else to go. Then plant accordingly, in the 'new' edges that would create.
Or - plant willow, Gunnera, and more Iris - but contained in old tyres or similar.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...