# Bog garden update



## fbrem (Apr 28, 2011)

Sorry if anyone is getting sick of looking at these but I have no where else to share and I'm in love with my bog garden.


_Sarracenia alata_











_Sarracenia rubra_ this variety smells awesome, like raspberries and menthol





another form of S. rubra or one of the more recently split species, not sure but a favorite (Spiranthes cernua clump on left)





whole darned thing 
a week ago





2 days ago






Forrest


----------



## goldenrose (Apr 28, 2011)

fbrem said:


> Sorry if anyone is getting sick of looking at these but I have no where else to share and I'm in love with my bog garden.Forrest


I NEVER get sick of looking, just get sick that I don't have one just like it! I'm in love with your bog garden too - keep postin'!


----------



## etex (Apr 28, 2011)

I love your bog garden,too!! Very beautiful and very well kept!


----------



## Leo Schordje (Apr 28, 2011)

Very nice Forrest, I'd love to see a few photos of the pitcher's when they mature. The rubra flowers are intense, the 'flava' form is one I had never seen before. Cool. 

Some day, I want to try to put in a bog garden too.


----------



## Shiva (Apr 28, 2011)

I too would like to try it out someday. I'm sure your experience is or will be very useful to many of us.


----------



## likespaphs (Apr 28, 2011)

wow!
great growin'!


----------



## jmelot (Apr 28, 2011)

I seem to bookmark these threads every time they come up, just to make *sure* I have pictures of your garden saved for the day I get a yard.  I agree with everyone - your bog is super cool!


----------



## JeanLux (Apr 28, 2011)

What a concentration of extravagant plants and blooms!!!! Bravo, excellent Imo!!!! Jean


----------



## Marc (Apr 28, 2011)

Thanks for the update, are you going to burn it again this year?


----------



## Dido (Apr 28, 2011)

JeanLux said:


> What a concentration of extravagant plants and blooms!!!! Bravo, excellent Imo!!!! Jean



I fully agree


----------



## W. Beetus (Apr 28, 2011)

I will never get tired of your bog! It is wonderful! I would love to have one in my yard. Is it full sun?


----------



## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 28, 2011)

Looks great. Calopogons multiply at a steady rate and if you want a forest of them, then I recommend germinating some. They flask very easily and produce hundreds of plants per flask, no kidding.


----------



## goods (Apr 28, 2011)

I would never get tired of seeing that bog Forrest. Send some down south when it starts to outgrow the area


----------



## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 28, 2011)

OMG, are you kidding, that's AWESOME!! Keep 'em coming. :clap:


----------



## fbrem (Apr 28, 2011)

W. Beetus said:


> I will never get tired of your bog! It is wonderful! I would love to have one in my yard. Is it full sun?



Full sun most all day


----------



## paphioboy (Apr 29, 2011)

You sure have your own little slice of heaven in your backyard...  Very healthy sarracenias blooming their heads off!!


----------



## fundulopanchax (May 1, 2011)

Keep those photos coming! 

Ron


----------



## Rick (May 1, 2011)

Do you have spikes coming up on the flytraps? I've never seen flytraps in flower before, and one of the plants in my little carnivorous planter has a spike going up on it.:clap:


----------



## fbrem (May 2, 2011)

Rick said:


> Do you have spikes coming up on the flytraps? I've never seen flytraps in flower before, and one of the plants in my little carnivorous planter has a spike going up on it.:clap:



Yeah, they are trying to flower right now, I pinch them off as soon as i see them because they take a lot of energy away from the plant. If left to develop seed, the inflorescences will prevent nice new traps from being formed. Plus they take forever to grow from seed nand the blooms aren't to amazing.


----------



## Ernie (May 2, 2011)

fbrem said:


> Yeah, they are trying to flower right now, I pinch them off as soon as i see them because they take a lot of energy away from the plant. If left to develop seed, the inflorescences will prevent nice new traps from being formed. Plus they take forever to grow from seed nand the blooms aren't to amazing.



Good timing here! Our vft's are spiking too. I've never seen them bloom before and was curious. I guess we'll just pat ourselves on the back for making healthy plants, google it to see what the flowers would look like, then snip them off.


----------



## paphioboy (May 3, 2011)

Just google for pics if you wanna see VFT flowers...  they're tiny, simple 5-petalled white flowers.


----------



## fbrem (May 6, 2011)

Leo Schordje said:


> Very nice Forrest, I'd love to see a few photos of the pitcher's when they mature. The rubra flowers are intense, the 'flava' form is one I had never seen before. Cool.
> 
> Some day, I want to try to put in a bog garden too.



After a little more research I think that one is actually a form of S. alata, apparently all rubras have red flowers and only alata flowers approach white. I have a few small divisions of this one I pulled today, if anyone is interested PM me.

Forrest


----------



## goldenrose (May 10, 2011)

I went back thru your original bog post & have a couple of questions if you don't mind -
Your bog is 18" deep, being in IL. zone 5, sounds like it would be better to go to 24" deep?
You also stated it's lined with 6mil plastic & if you were to do it over you'd use multiple layers or high quality rubber liner, reason being? durability? If not exposed to the light, the plastic should hold up & be easier to poke holes in it. Your holes are near the top or do you have some low, at the bottom as well?
I have a 5' round earth bottom lily pond that's probably close to 2' deep & although it would be alot of work to remove the soil/muck that seems the best location, my only concern is the amount of good quality water needed ....


----------



## fbrem (May 10, 2011)

goldenrose said:


> I went back thru your original bog post & have a couple of questions if you don't mind -
> Your bog is 18" deep, being in IL. zone 5, sounds like it would be better to go to 24" deep?
> You also stated it's lined with 6mil plastic & if you were to do it over you'd use multiple layers or high quality rubber liner, reason being? durability? If not exposed to the light, the plastic should hold up & be easier to poke holes in it. Your holes are near the top or do you have some low, at the bottom as well?
> I have a 5' round earth bottom lily pond that's probably close to 2' deep & although it would be alot of work to remove the soil/muck that seems the best location, my only concern is the amount of good quality water needed ....



24" deep would be fine. most bog cp's crowns or rhizomes are at most a few inches deep so having it deeper won't help with cold tolerance, but it will provide a better root zone. A plastic cover when temps get below 20F should be fine. if you focus on more nothern cp's I doubt any more than pine needle mulch will be needed in winter. About the lining, sometimes I'm surprised when I read the things I've said. I think the heavy duty plastic is just fine, the rubber may be overkill or even toxic to plants. about 24 holes were poked in the bottom with a wooden skewer, a 1/8 drill bit should do well for your plastic liner. It's a lot of work on the initial install but the 5 years of joy I've gotten from it and the many trades it has facilitated have made it more than worth the effort. Hose water is fine as long as it in not extremely hard. poke a few less holes to hold more water so it stays wetter longer, or you ro or carbonfiltered water (like a faucet end brita or similar). Good luck on your project


----------



## goldenrose (May 10, 2011)

Thanks Forrest, I just might have to go for it! Funds aren't abundant but I already have The Savage Garden, a bale of Can.peat & sand is cheap, and a large pond liner that we've never used. All it takes from there is some woman power! I pulled my 2 extra barrels out of the basement so I now have 6, that should give me some back up as my well water TDS is 350  I 'd probably reduce the # of holes or maybe all? Here's my thought - put in a pvc stand pipe which is in a pocket of gravel. The pond is not quite level so there's an overflow spot, which is opposite of the standpipe. I could put fresh rainwater down the stand pipe, which would mix with & hopefully push up the older water & it overflows. Now the question, how often would I need to do that? You said your bog smelled stagnant before you put in the holes, were the plants doing OK?


----------



## fbrem (May 11, 2011)

goldenrose said:


> Thanks Forrest, I just might have to go for it! Funds aren't abundant but I already have The Savage Garden, a bale of Can.peat & sand is cheap, and a large pond liner that we've never used. All it takes from there is some woman power! I pulled my 2 extra barrels out of the basement so I now have 6, that should give me some back up as my well water TDS is 350  I 'd probably reduce the # of holes or maybe all? Here's my thought - put in a pvc stand pipe which is in a pocket of gravel. The pond is not quite level so there's an overflow spot, which is opposite of the standpipe. I could put fresh rainwater down the stand pipe, which would mix with & hopefully push up the older water & it overflows. Now the question, how often would I need to do that? You said your bog smelled stagnant before you put in the holes, were the plants doing OK?



at a conductivity of 350 your well water is probably an eventual cp killer so the barrels of rainwater would perfect. Not sure how often it would need to be flushed but your idea sounds like a good one. I would not eliminate all drain holes to prevent a reductive environment at the roots. Yes the plants were doing ok when I removed them from my old smelly bog, who knows for how much longer. Now that they are in a well drained bog they are much happier. Just play with the watering, most cp's are pretty forgiving. And dig you hand or a wooden skewer into the media every few months and smell it, if it gets that anoxic smell poke more holes and change media. Once you get it right you'll only have to weed, water, and enjoy for years. Good luck


----------



## fbrem (May 18, 2011)

*Sarracenia pics*

now that the flowers are done the pitchers are in...

S. purpurea
















S. alata white flower





S. alata yellow flower





S. flava 'Coppertop'





S. flava





S. leucophylla





S. rubra










S. Judith Hindle





Whole thing


----------



## goldenrose (May 18, 2011)

Just gorgeous! Now I'm telling myself - it's only a matter of time!
Forrest - did you ever mention the dimensions of yours? Is the fence section 8', 10' ? How many different varieties do you have? (You've got 11 pics in this post). There are so many color varieties, it's hard to narrow down my choices! ....
another addiction! :crazy: I'm even considering trying some seeds!
Is your bog firm enough that you can put a foot on it to weed or trim down plants in fall?


----------



## goods (Apr 20, 2012)

Any update on the bog from this year's blooming? I had flowers from one of my S. purpureas and Pinguicula primuliflora in the mini bog, and a random seedling I found appears to be a form of flava. I picked up a S. psittacina from a local show. I lost my largish colony of S. rubra and S. leucophylla to rot before I added more drainage


----------

