I had a Higan cherry there but it died. Upon some further research the area tends to run a bit on the wet side. Not swampy, but it doesn’t drain as well as most of the yard. I’m looking for a small ornamental tree or large shrub, preferably something that blooms, they can tolerate my borderline zone 6/7 climate, and doesn’t mind at least occasional wetness.
The only thing I can think of is possibly Lagerstroemia if I plant it high enough.
Good spot for native elderberry
Most any dogwood would likely do well
Salmonberry likes wet places, but the fruits are not great.
Pussy willow, hardy hibiscus, maybe black currant?
aronia/ black chokeberry has nice dark green leaves and red fall foliage as well as edible berries… loves wet conditions and tolerates hard pruning. you want some fall cuttings let me know. they root very easily.
Button bush.
Autumn olive
elderberry
redtwig dogWoods
Pawpaw trees, elderberries, and blueberries come to mind.
Here are a couple pictures of Aronia in standing water. It’s like this for 24 hours after every moderately long rain. The plants are alive and fine. They’ve just been eaten back a couple times. These were an unnamed variety I bought from an off grid biologist.
Rabbit really go for it on my property unfortunately.
Goumi has also done well for me in a wet spot. No standing water…just constant seepage from an old grey water drain. This was surprising to me because i’ve seen several sources state that it hates wet feet. Goumi might be my favorite plant because it’s so damn hardy, tasty, attactive (imo), fragrant, and nitrogen fixing. It’s a real King.
I have elderberries in wet spots on my property and they are doing well.
If you want some flowers and some fruit and a fairly attractive tree, what about a Cornelian Cherry (Cornus Mas)? Since it is in the dogwood family it should be able to handle more moisture and occasional minor flooding as long as the soil isn’t constantly drenched. They’ll give you small but attractive yellow flowers in spring and lovely red berries you can use for preserves, etc. if you aren’t wiped out by the birds.
I’m pretty sure persimmons do pretty well in moist areas as well. That’s what I’ve read and I hope it is true since I planted a couple along the outside edge of my rain garden. They’ve been fine for about 18 months so far. Not really much for flowers since they are green and aren’t very showy, but the fruit can be quite attractive and many of the trees look pretty good as a general landscape tree. Probably American or hybrid for your zone.
As mentioned, elderberries should do well in that spot, but I would say they are more like a large multi-stemmed shrub than an ornamental tree. But the flowers are nice, useful for syrups and other things, and they have a lovely scent as you walk by. And since the berries are all clumped together in big heads, they are easy to protect from birds compared to other types of berries.
A small ornamental tree…with berries but not edible for humans…ilex decidua, deciduous holly.
Or, especially the “Possum Haw” holly…loves swampy and has berries in winter that are showy until birds eat them.
