Flooding

What do you have beyond the end of your garden? Is it empty ground? A hill? Someone else's plot?

Have a look at Bilbo's blog of the 19th April - there may be some suggestions there to help you, or at least give you some ideas!

Hi I also suffer from excess rain water to such an extent that I have dug a small drainage channel and filled it with gravel, Next to this I have a gunnera and equisitum growing/ferns/hostas etc.
Take a look at some of my garden pics as it will be easy to see what I mean.

Maple,
Beyond the area in question there is a hill. I had hoped at some point to do some tiered gardens in the hill but am limited right now as to budget. The main reason I am trying to address this now is because both neighbors on either side have warned me to expect flooding in the backyard during the summer. Instead of having a mess I would like to have a solution.

Treesandthi....
How did the drainage channel effect your neighbors? Being new to the neighborhood, I do not think upsetting them is a good idea. (smiling). I do not want to force more water into their yard.

Luckily for me it drains off down a slope to a patch of woodland.
Do you have room for Willow? I planted a tree where it get's damp and boggy as well as willow stocks I trained into a dome. These are very thirsty and dont mind having their feet wet. I clip the willow tree to keep it managable as I dont want a 50ft tree in my garden at the moment. There are pics of this on my homepage.

Treesandthi...

I am not sure about the Willow. The yard is small already and I am afraid a Willow will overpower it. One thought I have is laying the channel with some sort of small pond catch at the end. It would still spill over into the neighbors but maybe not as much. I am very new to this but if I line the channel with stone and then plant some water hardy plants along it and around the pool then I may catch more than I pass on. I would still have the problem of a large water bill should the weather get dry though so choosing the plants will be a challange. Do you have any ideas?

Hi again, Equisitum is very hardy. Loves the damp conditions and should survive if it gets dry. Its a very architectual looking plant. Grows to about 4ft straight up. But it can be invasive as it sends roots out so you could plant it in a pond basket to keep it under control, lift it out every now and then a trim the roots and shoots.