(upbeat music) >>We're here at the Edith J.

Carrier Arboretum at James Madison University, thinking about water in our landscapes and how things will change in Virginia due to climate change.

The predictions are currently that we will have more days with 90 degree and above temperatures, while also getting more precipitation and more rain events of two inches or more.

This may lead to much more water in our landscapes, and so we want to think about how we can manage water near our houses and in our landscape.

So here at the arboretum, behind me is the pond that holds water at all times.

And then, spots like this where, if there's a major rain event, you can have an inundation.

So all of this area is gonna fill with water.

Now, the tree I'm standing next to here is the bald cypress, and you can easily identify it by these beautiful cypress knees.

We're still not exactly sure what the bald cypress knees do for the plant, but they are a characteristic of this tree, which can take full water inundation, which means getting its feet wet and having them wet, maybe even for days at a time.

Many of our plants in the landscape will not tolerate that kind of water inundation.

Our lawns and our grass are good examples.

So what we wanna do is if we have spots that are either already a bit marshy, a bit wet, or we are concerned will hold more water, we then can plant things that will handle that kind of water inundation.

So you have things like this bald cypress next to me, which is a large tree in the landscape.

You could have tulip poplars, which are also large trees and sycamores, the river birches behind me, and that's a beautiful tree for your landscape with that peeling bark in all seasons, it gives lots of interest.

Then there are also smaller plants like Lobelia, cardinal flower, which has a spectacular red blossom in summer.

You could do blue flag iris, if you have a nice wet spot.

Make sure though, you look for the blue flag iris, which is native to Virginia.

We want to avoid the yellow flag, which is a non-native invasive.

And here at the arboretum, we also have scouring rushes in here.

Cattails are another beautiful example of a plant that will take that water inundation.

If you want to control the water as it's coming off your house or in your landscape, think about a rain garden or rain barrels as a way to store the water and use those nice wet spots to grow wonderful plants and have a totally different look in your garden.

So enjoy your wet spots when you can have them in your yard.