There's almost nothing that takes every condition.

Pick one and cultivate for it (watering if necessary), elevate the bed (water gamage control),etc.

Obviously there's some wisdom in saying, plant natives, but even then...the vagarities of climate may select against your success every few years.

That's ok, wildflowers wax and wane with the climate and seasons. But if you want something persistent then effort will be required (watering, forcing drainage, etc).

Given what I've said, I will recommend a couple of plants that are pretty tolerant. They may well not rock your boat, but I suggest them as tough individuals.

Viburnum rufidulum, a choice shrub that has spring flowers, summer fruit, autumn red foliage and did very well for me in spring soil saturation->summer saturation->bone dry summers, etc.

American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), another shrub with fall color and lovely fall berries. Would probably prefer to have some watering when really dry, but will pull through while looking totally wretched. Light overhead shading probably would help in dry times.

Coreopsis lanceolata, will want a little bit of drainage, but once established nothing will phase it much. Pluses or minuses is that it reseeds freely (my lawn is in the process of being colonized).

Penstemon tubaeflorus, it shouldn't have..but it tolerated everything where naturally occuring in my meadow in NE Oklahoma.

Hellebore x hybrid, non-native, but lovely in decently drained mostly sun to half shade. If in more sun, will grow better, but may require a bit of water in late summer if a dry year.

Most spring ephemerals (natives), will do fine with no supplemental watering and drying later, but that also leaves you with holes after they go dormant. Just an FYI. I grow native geranium, shooting stars, trilliums, delphinium, and dutchman's breeches. I love them, but they're early to mid spring accents that fade away after.

Bulbs (because of same reason as ephemerals, most prefer well drained areas during summer/fall): crocus, wood hyacinth, camassias (like it wet), muscarii, species gladiolus, colchicums, native lilies (michiganese and canadensis)(prefer moist areas)

Hopefully you find something you like above.

Just to clarify: when I say winter wet, I don’t mean that the plants are sitting in water or that the area is particularly poorly drained. It is actually fairly well drained, and on a slight slope. I just mean that we don’t have dry winters, which some plants really need to make it through. We have a lot of rain over the dormant period Which causes an issue for some that might otherwise work well.

Dbarron, Thanks for the suggestions! i am putting in more shrubs, as they seem to hold up better. And yes, the spring ephemerals do excellently. Hellebores have done well in between other plants that offer them shade.

Lol. Yeah, you’re North AR, right? You probably deal with much of the same, except a bit more heat.

Right. NW Ark.

Plants that have done very well are bearded iris, Siberian iris, Husker type penstemon, spirea, heuchera in the more shady areas, some meadow sages, ajuga, golden oregano, creeping phlox, peonies (for the most part), boxwood, little bluestem, liriope. Nepeta does ok. Prefers more sun. I know there are some plants that are fairly adaptable. Just hoping to gather enough together to make a coherent landscape. Lol.

Yes, BI are mostly indestructible, though too much moisture can kill them.

Heuchera will do ok as long as humidity doesn't get too low.

Ajuga spreads into the lawn...so yes, it's invasively tough.

A wet year can send bluestem running (death)...last year did for me.

If you’re considering shrubs in addition to perennials, Viburnum dentatum and Physocarpus both handle drought and seasonally flooded soil just fine for me.

just in case a novice runs across this .. lets just be clear... no plant is drought tolerant.. until it is fully established ... which with perennials.. might take at least one full season ...

so.. if you plant something small and new.. water it in good... and perhaps water it again.. when the heat of summer hits ... and then .. hopefully.. it will be full free range.. drought resistant.... the second year ... and into the future ...

in other words.. you have to grow a mature root mass... for the plant to show mature traits ...

bazinga .... lol

ken

And neither dentatum nor ninebark show much drought tolerance here. How it performs in NY differs from the Upper South. I grow both of them...and if not watered I would have lost a 3 yr planted dentatum year before last. It just doesn't do well here with any drought stress at all, same with ninebark. In fact, I lost a 3 yr planted ninebark in NE Oklahoma by drought.

Different strokes for different locations.

All my dentatums survived a drought last summer with no rain from July 5 to Oct 6 and very hot as well. Even my spring dried up--never had gone dry in living memory.

Thanks for the response! I do have physocarpus. It was new last year, though, so I’m still waiting on a verdict.

Ken, absolutely. Well established plants have a much better chance of handling harsh weather. Good clarification. You can do a lot with your watering pattern to encourage deep roots.

i have two ajuga: Bronze Beauty and Mahogany. Agreed, Bronze Beauty does spread a lot. It runs rapidly, although fairly easy to remove in loose soil. Mahogany is much more of a clumpier for me. The runners are super short, and so while it does slowly expand the clump, it really stays put very well. If I want it to cover more ground, I have to divide it and replant small sections. Then each section forms it’s own nice clump and voila. It is by far the superior IMO, due to its more controlled nature as well as the striking color that holds up all year.

A few plants that come to mind would be daylilies, coreopsis 'Zagreb', and Nepeta. Miscanthus grass, maiden grass, and salvias are a few more.

How many hours of Sun does the area get? Is there any dappled sun in addition to the direct sun?

Are you in Missouri or Arkansas?

Deanna

Thanks for the reply, Deanna! Yes, daylilies are a good idea. I’ve been working on adding more of those. I’ve had coreopsis moonbeam in this area, and it’s performance has been sub-optimal, but I’ve heard Zagreb performs better under such conditions. I also have nepeta ‘Walker’s Low,’ and it does a fair job, although it doesn’t do as well as it can in dry, sunny areas. But it does make a good filler.

The direct sun hours are constantly changing, but I’d say it gets 4-5 hours of direct sun during the long days of summer, with some dappled shade in the morning and late afternoon.

and I’m in Missouri. Ozark Plateau

Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)?