Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Isn't August suppose to be hot and dry? The rainfall has been very heavy this month across a large portion of the region, which has led to areas of flooding and complicated our work schedule. With todays storms and hurricane Irene's predicted landfall this weekend these totals will certainly rise! The rain totals have also been climbing the records list as well at some sites. The following is a ranking of the areas Augusts and other wettest months:

Philadelphia

Wettest Augusts
1) 13.00 inches in August 2011*
2) 12.10 inches in August 1911
3) 11.49 inches in August 1873
4) 10.29 inches in August 2009
5) 9.84 inches in August 1933

Wettest months
1) 13.07 inches in September 1999
2) 13.00 inches in August 2011*
3) 12.09 inches in September 1882
4) 11.50 inches in August 2011
5) 11.49 inches in August 1873

(records date back to 1872)

*Monthly total for August 2011, as of August 22
12.81 inches Philadelphia 4.7 NE

Most plants will tolerate this without any trouble, especially since July left the soil so dry, and new plants appreciate frequent watering. If you have any low-lying areas that tend to puddle for more than 24 hours though, those plants could be showing signs of stress, unfortunately there is not much you can do to remedy a temporary situation like this, but you can take steps to improve consistently wet areas including drainage or select plants known for their tolerance of wet soils, some of these include:

SHRUBS
Bottlebrush buckeye Aesculus parviflora,  Inkberry  Ilex glabra, Sweet pepperbush  Clethra alnifolia, Virginia sweetspire  Itea virginica, Winterberry Ilex verticillata

PERENNIALS
Bee balm Monarda didyma, Blue flag iris Iris brevicaulis, Japanese iris Iris ensata, Joe-Pye weed Eupatorium purpureum, Lady fern Athyrium filix-femina, River oats Chasmanthium latifolium, Royal fern Osmunda regalis, Siberian iris Iris siberica, Spiderwort Tradescantia virginiana, Swamp sunflower Helianthus angustifolium, Sweet flag Acorus gramineus, Yellow flag Iris pseudacorus

Another, and very descriptive list can be found at the following site:
http://www.cloudmountainfarm.com/pdf-guides/PlantsforProblemPlaces_Wet.pdf