Question
Hi Russel my name is Cole i live in Virginia and whenever it rains my back yard floods. We have been wanting to put a plant like a bush that will suck up all the water and requires low maintenance as well as not spreading out every where since we would like to put it near our chain link fence and we don't want it to get in our neighbors yard.

Answer
Hey, Cole.

There are plants that like water, but plants can't absorb the water instantaneously as it falls, so after a rain, all you would have are plants standing in water until the water soaks into the ground or evaporate.

The philodendrons and elephant ears are probably your best bet if that's what you want. The thing about those two plants is that their leaves are large so once they mature, you probably won't see whatever water is standing.

A better, or complementary, solution might be to also install a French drain to help remove some of the water from your yard.

Hope that helps.

Russel