Good native for a difficult spot.

[osopolare]

Hello Folks,

I'm looking for suggestions for what to plant in a difficult spot in my yard. Everything else I've planted there has died.

It's right in front of my front patio, so the spot is on the north side of the house, adjacent to the foundation. It's about 5' x 5'

My home is located in the foothills of Altadena.

The spot I'm looking to fill gets a lot of sun in the summer but is shaded well by the house in the winter.

This spot is right where our gutters terminate so in the winter it will get completely flooded and waterlogged for a few days each year.

There's a bunch of spider plant that grows right next to it and that stuff gets killed in this location, just to give you an idea what we're talking about.

I'm imagining that there is some sort of riparian species that would do well there. Something that's used to growing down in the canyon, tolerant of shade and fine with getting flooded. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help, I'm pretty new to gardening and to using natives beyond that.

[terrestrial_man]

What is the area like that you want to plant into.
Is it fill soil, sandy soil, heavy clay soil, ??
Is it flat, sloped, ??
Are you looking for perennials, annuals, or a combination?
Are you willing to irrigate the area in question?
5 ft x 5 ft is not a large area. Would you be willing to do
something else with it, such as landscape it to create a pool
or a damp meadow??

The only riparian species that I can think of that can handle
your particular site would have to be very tough and that would
be a Typha species (cattails). Typha need the wet and flooded ground
of winter/spring but often experiences drought in summer and survives
by dying down to the ground. Some supplemental watering would be
needed to help the underground rhizomes survive over the summer.

Modification of the site to accommodate other natives would be necessary as per the cultural needs of such species.