New to Georgia

Hi all - We just moved into our new home in Gainesville and I am in need of some sort of shrub, not too tall growing that will hide an ugly drainage sort of ditch in our back yard. The developer put in a bunch of rock to create a drainage area as all the land slopes down. My backyard also slopes down towards that and consequesntly my grass back there is quite wet.

I am looking for something to grow back there that will cover up that ditch, but has to be able to grow in wet soil.

Attached is a photo of that area, but this was during a very heavy rainfall. As you can see the ditch needs so work because the water flows into our yard too much. There are woods on the other side so I don't need to hide those, just the rocks.

The developer needs to go back and fix this. What a crappy job. You need to have either an underground french drainage system back in there, or a proper dry creek bed. I'd get in touch with them and let them know they need to fix it. You are going to have nothing but mosquito heaven and a real problem growing anything back there. It looks the main reason you are flooding is because the property up above you was a) improperly graded or b) stripped of all vegetation for development

GGG

Hmmm. Looks like a good place for a small pond. Do you own the "ditch" or does someone else own half? It's hard to tell what to do without knowing where the water is supposed to end up. Also if they build a house back behind you it will stop a lot of the water. If everyone around there has a lawn etc. that ditch probably won't get much water unless there is a big storm. I would plant some river birch but I don't know if you want something that big. River birch suck up a large amount of water very quickly but they really can't be wet all the time. Great for where water collects after a storm.

Hi dzirbel, and welcome to DG! I agree with GGG. If this is new construction, the builder/developer is responsible for ensuring that water does not stand near the foundation of the home for a period of time. If it is flowing into your yard during heavy rains and standing, you need to document this and respectfully request that the builder/developer take care of it. Sometimes they choose to use french drains (expensive) or digging trenches and lining them with rock. Whatever they choose to do, don't let them wait until more erosion occurs. The winter rains are coming. Good luck!

Thank you for your replies. Normally this rock bed is dry, but that photo was from a heavy rain, such as we are having now.

Funny you should mention the developers. They were out here yesterday making assessments. The woods behind us will remain and the houses that were built to the left still need to be landscaped so that should help immensely. The biggest problem is just that they did not form this dry bed properly. I will let you all know what they end up doing back there. I will wait to plant anything because it would probably just get ruined anyway. I am happy to say that the rest of my yard is doing beautifully. We are new to this Fescue only grass and we successfully did our overseeding and it is growing wonderfully. Can't wait to see how it looks in 3 months. When we moved in our yard was fully landscaped for us with full sod, but there were a lot of small areas that needed to be filled in with seed.

I'll update you soon.

Denise

I live out "in the country", i.e, in the county with not a lot of construction going on, but I also have septic as opposed to sewer, therefore, we have a line carrying "gray" water, (washing machine, shower) to the wooded area in the front yard. The previous owners designed all this and it seems to work really well. They planted a weeping willow to soak up the excess water in my little patch of woods, and I just love it. I have been working on other things this first year, but next year I want to focus a little more on this soggy patch and brighten it up as soon as I figure out what will do well there. But, the willow is thriving and is really lovely; just a suggestion if you find you still need vegetation for a soggy area.

Glad the developers are aware and involved. I worked for a builder/developer for 11 years and I can tell you drainage issues (and roof leaks) were the headaches of the industry.