What ways have any of you made a bog near a pond for planting cannas?
Some people have planted pots of cannas into the edge of their ponds. However, I'm still not clear on the size and type of the pots, the kind of soil to use, etc. I'd really like a bog that could be at least 5' long and 3' wide or so. I want a long narrow row of cannas, sort-of-speak. I've googled some info but all I've read about was laying liner down. Can you make a bog without the liner?
I don't even know if my cannas are water cannas. I do know that the cannas planted in a bed next to my house thrive best in very moist soil with lots of pinestraw mulch. Just to be safe, I want to make my bog on the water's edge; it's "normal" edge. Not the drought-stricken edge I've got now. I know I'll have to water it with the 0.0000001 drop of rain we've had this summer.
I'd love to hear several options from ya'll. My pond area is clay, brickbat clay, and stick-in-the-mud ol' Georgia red clay.
Thanks, Deborah
Making a bog garden for cannas
i do all my water cannas in 20 gal tubs paul
Do you punch holes in the tubs for any kind of drainage?
Deborah
I'm confused about where you want to plant them. Is this an lined pond or clay pond? On the "normal" edge, do you mean in the water or not in the water?
I'm using 5 gal pots (for small spaces) using the pots existing drainage and mixing some garden soil in with some compost. I really wouldn't recommend using a liner for canna in a very narrow strip unless you want to end up with holes in it. The shear force those tubers can have in small spaces will force it right through the liner. The 5 gal pots allow me to plant many varieties in the small space and still be able to divide them, if the pots split, no biggie, they're easy to get free from other gardeners.
The pond is a bass fishing pond. The soil is clay all around and also in the pond's bottom. The edge would be the margin of the pond where swamping grass grows where the water stops when it's full of water (under normal conditions). I say normal because right now, with the drought, I'm having to run water to the pond. It's trying to dry up in the middle. IThe pond's so low, it's being cut off, reducing it to two small ponds. Don't want that to happen!
5 gal pots! Thanks! I've got some of those. I recently bought two bradford pear trees and two crape myrtles that came in 5 gal pots. I'll use'em!
Using the 5 gal pots, would the soil leaching out be a problem, you think?
Paul, where do you find 20 gal tubs? And do you have drainage holes?
i get the tubs from the doallar store i fill it half full of water then i put the pot of cannas or cannas in the tub. no drainage holes the tubs are about 7 doallors each and last about 3 years paul
I don't see soil leaching out as a problem, if it did happen, it would just make more room for the canna LOL.
Sounds like a nice pond! Too bad it's so low. You wouldn't want to create a lined bog area next to a clay lined pond, it could corrupt the integrity of the pond edge because there won't be much by way of support to the liner, so you would find your bog area pushing against your clay edge. You definitely want to use some kind of hard container. Lined bogs are good next to lined ponds, I have 2 I just put in and they drain into the pond, or in a yard where the soil offers support.
Question for Paul: OK, I get the water in the tubs but how do you keep it from getting stagnant and growing mosquitoes?
Tammie
... this sounds like a perfect way for me to do them... if only I had a dollar store that sold things like that!
Tammie i use air pumps for fish tanks i keep a air stone in each one that keeps the water moveing so it does not get stagnat . you can buy some tablets from lowes home depot that kills the mis eggs but not your plants. i use jobe fertlzer sticks in the pots and i all so put some liquid fertlezer in the tubs to . the air in the water from the air stone makes theam grow big and fast. paul
You'll never know how much I appreciate these tips. One day soon, I hope to seen some pictures of my cannas and new bog garden!
Deborah
I am already scouring the stores looking for appropriate tubs. I need to ask my mother what ever happened to the air pumps I used to have for my aquariums. she never throws anything out that might come in handy in the future.... think they might work after 20 years? LOL
Tammie
LOL If you could find new diaphrams for them. Paul's dollar store idea was great, just felt like that warranted repeating :-)
I suppose a l kid's small swimming pool or even a litter box could also work well like the 20 gal tubs? WalMart has the pools on sale really cheap.
Deborah
i use a few swiming pools to i get theam from the dollar store to ten bucks get the hard yellow one paul
Good! I'll check out the dollar store here. Thanks!