Need ideas for a long bog garden

My dh and I added the wood edging parallel along the back fence to frame in and create a long bog garden in the backyard today. When I say "long", it is 76 feet long by approximately 4 feet wide. I need ideas of plants to put back there. I need plants that like moist soil and wet feet and can also tolerate occassional flooding without getting root rot. I am hoping there are many plants that either host or are nectar plants for butterflies and hummingbirds. I'm not giving up hope on the hummers! ;-)

I am thinking of putting one of my small ponds in one section of the bed. The area gets full sun for at least 6 hours a day, though some of it gets full sun ALL day. There is a large Oak tree that casts shade at different times of the day on part of the garden bed. So for the most part it gets full sun most of the day.

I am hoping some of you can give me some suggestions for plants. I am open to all ideas! I know canna and scarlet hibicus (Texas Star) are good choices and I have some of those plants in pots for that area. But I need a LOT more plants.

Help! You can see from the photo that I will need to be adding lots of plants!

I assume you're removing the grass. Is your bed just naturally moist? I'd put in Buttonbush for sure. I always wanted to grow some (and it's a nectar plant), but I don't think I could keep it moist enough...I do better with plants that like hot and relatively dry conditions.

Thanks Linda! Good plant suggestion. It is a nectar plant for some butterflies I don't see very often in my yard - Painted Lady, Cabbage White, and Clouded Sulphur. (Though the Sulphurs are showing up more since I added Cassia plants to my yard.) It also attracts Monarchs and Black Eastern Swallowtails. I really like it's unique looking flowers!!! Thanks for suggesting it!

And yes! I will be making a lasagna bed inside the wooden frames. We just got the edging frames built and installed yesterday. I decided to take a photo to show how long of a garden bed this will be. This area almost always has damp soil. I know for a fact that plants which DO NOT like soggy roots die if planted there. (It took a few dead plants for me to figure that out! Trial and error.) And it floods when we get a week of rain or hurricane rains. Flooding drains off very slowly. (Which is probably why I have so many mesquitos in my yard!) The vacant lots behind me and to the left of my house often look like swamp area. Very low lying. My yard also slopes down in the backyard, so water drains away from the house to the furtherest point of the yard along the back fence and in both back corners. It's almost always mushy when you walk around back there. Which is why I wanted to do a full-length garden. It's a useless area of my yard except for the possibility of being a "wet/bog" garden bed.

I have a small "swamp dogwood tree" in the left back corner which I just planted this past spring. It's in the process of getting established. Oddly, it bloomed twice for me. Once in the early spring and again at the end of summer. Go figure. And I have a small Walters Viburnum bush that also blooms a couple times a year in the right back corner of the garden bed. Which leaves about 65' of available wet garden bed to fill.

Does anyone grow Iris?

More suggestions are needed, please, everyone.

This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 8:15 AM

I like blue Flag, iris virginica; cardinal flower, lobelia cardinalis; catesbae's lily, lilium castesbaei; and giant ironwood, veronica gigantea, spotted joe-pye weed, Eupatorium fistulosum; Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, tropical milkweed asclepias curassavica to name a few. Some of these are on my wish list to plant in my bog area and others I have seeds to ws.

Deborah♥

Oh Deborah - Thanks! I'm looking them all up to see what they look like and their growing requirements. Are these all hummer and/or butterfly attracting plants?

Most are. Go to this web site and put in your requirements (wet etc) and the plant you need will be shown. www.nearlynativenursery.com
Deborah♥

Wow, Deborah! I had no idea that some of those plants liked wet soil. A lot of good nectar plants and a few host plants as well. Thank you! That was a very informative web page. I am seriously thinking of ordering from NNN. They have plants I can NOT find around here at all. Not even at my native nursery. I appreciate it very much!

Aha.................. so that is the big bog garden Becky....................... wow

Yes siree, Mark. Now you see my dilemma for plants that will survive/thrive in that area. LOL! I need plants .... LOTS of plants!

Does anyone know specifics about growing the Swamp Milkweed. Does it need cold stratification? Out of all the seeds I have started germinating, those are not. Which surprises me because they are "weeds".

You could ask tabasco or Deb from texas about milkweed plants. They have a thread started about nectar and host plants. They are my resident experts about butterflies. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/661953/

Deborah - I am hoping one or both of them read this thread. I am sure Deb will. I've never grown Swamp Milkweed before. I received seeds from a trader here who I trust, so that is why I am wondering why they won't germinate.

Becky.. That gonna look real nice when you get it done. I would watch on the Iris though. There is an Iris that will do quite well in your bog. Problem with it is that it wil choke out and take over every other plant you have in there and they a real pain to try and dig out. And if you mis s even one tiny piece of rhizome they come back again.

You Swamp milkweed seeds if your propagating them inside need to be put into their trays and stuffed in the fridge for thre e months. They need some cold stratification.

Gonna be intersting to see what you put there.

Thanks starlight for the heads up info about the iris plant becoming invasive. I didn't know. I know NOTHING about wet/bog gardening. Nothing whatsoever. I am going to attempt to plant without making all kinds of mistakes like I did on all my other gardens throughout my yard. Ha! Yeah right! lol If you look up the saying."Prone to make mistakes during gardening" in any quote books, you'll see my picture. LOL

Here a few for ya Becky.

Blanket Flower.......
Mentha aquatica. Water mint
Pickirel Rush. Ponteder cordata
Penstemon eatoni
Agastache canna and A. rupestris
verbena pulchella
Salvia serphyllifolia
Salviia grahami
Salvia nemerosa

the White Butterfly ginger
Salvia Ugandense-bog sage
Durban Canna and Striped Beauty Canna(may have this name wrong)
Bananas would be nice to fill a corner

Starlight - Are you sure about Blanket Flower being a bog plant? (I ask, because mine always dies due to the fact that I am horrible about overwatering plants.) I'm going to be looking up all the others. Thanks, interesting list.

Donna - Thanks to you, too! More to check out online. I appreciate it! I grew up with the Banana trees at my parent's house. They were kind of a mess to clean up after dying back in the winter. But the little bananas were cute! lol Tropical plants for sure!

Here's a few for Hummingbirds: Cardinal Flower (Lobelia Cardinalis) either full or partial sun Perennial
Indian Pink (spigelia marilandica) part shade Perennial
For the Butterflys: a weeping willow if you have room. Your swamp Milkweed is grown pretty much like the Tropical and will take alot of moisture (fresh seeds germinate best very low % if old).Maybe at the higher edges of the bog they have such a long tap root.All the milkweed would do great with all the sun and moisture.

oh Queen Anne's Lace which is also BST host

oh Becky will send you some of the Water Hemlock seed I harvested growing in the River this summer. Another BST host plant but very poisonous as many plants are

Yep Becky, sure about it. When you get ready and the weather warms up here and the plants coem back up , remind me. I have soem Butterfly ginger you can have and I also have Indian Pink plants. They like a rich boggy area with lots of leaf mulch.

My goodness! Thanks y'all for the great suggestions! And I really appreciate all the offers of seeds and plants! I wasn't expecting that ... very nice of some of you! I will surely take you up on those offers!

Thanks donlaclair for the info about the swamp milkweed growing best from seed in a bog area. Luckily, I have seeds from a trade, so I will do that in the Spring. :-)

Donna - I forgot about the Queen Anne's Lace. You think that would grow well in a bog area? I know that it died pretty quickly this past year when I grew it from seed because it dried out when I planted it in my herb garden. I'm not too sure about the Water Hemlock. I just don't trust my dog not to chew on it. It is supposed to be THE most poisionous plant in the U.S.. I bit scary if you have pets or small children. But thanks for the offer.

I received some cardinal flower seeds in a trade a couple months ago. But I was told that they aren't viable for long. Short shelf life. Does anyone know how long I can expect them to be good? I think I received them back in October. I may just sprinkle them on the top of the soil in one of the sections as soon as I get all the dirt in. I just put all the cardboard down this evening. Tomorrow is the day to get the soil and compost and start hauling it to the backyard beds. Luckily, my oldest son got me a really nice, big wheelbarrel that I can haul the bags in. Good way to break it in and save my back! ;-)

I am aware that quite a few of the host plants are poisonous and I've been thinking of how to handle that. I may put a low fence along the outside of the beds to keep my dog and any children out of the garden. Might be a good way to keep my dog from pooping in the garden as well. lol Nothing irks me more than stepping in dog poop! Grrr... I try removing it promptly when my dog goes, but sometimes my kids let the dog out and I don't see it until I step in it! lol (sigh)

This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 7:35 PM

Is Turk's Cap a bog plant? Anyone know?

I did some checking and it appears that there is a lily called Turks-cap lily that is a beautiful bog plant. One that I would like in my bog garden for sure! http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H395.htm

This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 7:42 PM

Becky.. Mine grow in a very marshy, bog type area. They like filtered snand very damp. Those growing here are sometimes under as much as two under water everytiem it rains and stay in very damp ground for several weeks while it drying out.

In some areas it is an endangered plant. I sending some this spring to to our Arboretum. I have been cultivating it around here for years. Have a hard tiem colelctign the seed. Little critters always manage to pop when I am not looking. It doe s not do well with cuttings.

Ours are raised in natural mulch and acidic soil.

Astilbe would be good in a bog area....................... but i dont knowif you have them over there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also some types of iris.............

Turks Cap are marginal plants, so yes they will grow in wet areas......................
They are a wildflower in virginia and west virginia, so i guess they are quite wet areas to be??????????

Becky.............. here are a few bog plants for you to have a look at.............
Bog plants can be trees, shrubs or herbaceous plants but what they all have in common is that they are best suited to damp, wet and usually shady situations or beside water. They should not however be confused with pond plants which are typically grown actually in the water itself. Herbaceous bog plants tend to be clump forming and the majority die down completely in the winter.

ACANTHUS mollis
ACORUS calamus 'Variegatus'
AMELANCHIER - all varieties
ASTELIA nervosa 'Westland'
BAMBOO
BETULA pendula - Silver Birch
CALYCANTHUS floridus (fertilis)
CORNUS COLOURED STEMMED DOGWOODS alba
CORNUS COLOURED STEMMED DOGWOODS stolonifera 'Flaviramea'
CORTADERIA - all varieties
DICKSONIA antarctica
GAULTHERIA shallon
GUNNERA manicata
HOUTTUYNIA cordata 'Chameleon'
IRIS ensata (kaempferi) - Water iris
LOBELIA - all varieties
LYSICHITON americanus
MECONOPSIS betonicifolia (Syn. baileyi)
METASEQUOIA glyptostroboides
PHORMIUM tenax
PRIMULA CANDELABRA TYPES - all varieties
RHEUM palmatum
RODGERSIA - all varieties
SALIX - all varieties
SAMBUCUS - all varieties
TAXODIUM distichum - Swamp Cyprus
ZANTEDESCHIA aethiopica

Nice list you have there Mark. You can be such a good boy when you want too. ;) Your list remind s me if I have some White Titi tree seeds if want afew of them Becky.

Only thing I would not plant is Bamboo. Pretty as it is it can be very invasive. Another one of them that will take over. Also in some areas you can not plant Bamboo anymore. Several folks have planted it and have found themselves to be the receipiant of law suits from its invasiveness and damage to other folks property as the root systems can travel long distances.

Ella................................... I am always a good boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just thought she needed some ideas, so came up with that list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By the way, not all bamboo is invasive........................... try the clump forming ones.............. black bamboo is cool!!!!

Mornin' y'all! Lovin' the list of plants you all are posting here. I'm looking stuff up as fast as I can. Great list, Mark! THANK YOU!!

I do not want to plant any trees. Shrubs possibly, but no trees in the bog area. I am in the midst of a neighborhood. And I've seen what bamboo can do. No way! Unless of course I can grow it in a container. (Which I will consider for anything that will not become a large tree.) And I do like Bamboo. I'll check out info on the Black Bamboo. The Astilbe probably won't survive in my zone as it just gets too hot here. But it sure is pretty!

Starlight - What is the plant in the picture above that you posted? Is it Turk's cap or Turk's Cap Lily? I couldn't quite tell from the photo. The butterfly ginger (lily?) looks a little like canna to me. Is it similiar? I like it!!! And the Indian Pinks I like very much! Beautiful contrast!!! :-) But is the latter one a bog plant? I definitely am interested to see what I can get from you in the Spring! Thanks so much for offering!

Also, what is the difference between the Black Titi and the White Titi. I saw a photo of the Black Titi on the Nearly Native Nursery website. I liked the Black. But it appears to be more of a tree than a shrub. :-(

It neither Becky. It the indian pink. tried to make the tiny pic I had of it bigger, but guess it blurred it. Here a link to it. http://www.briartech.com/latespring/indian/pindian.htm

Butterfly ginger is similar in height and lots of foliage. Some cultivars have more fragrance than others. Ginger come s in peaches, pinks, white.

I also have several different types of canna when you decid e on what ya looking for. While I have hybrids, I also have the species Canna indica. I like it better. Grante d the flowers not as big or showyu a s the hybrids, but it seems more critters are attracte d to it for feeding.
Got slews of it. Hopefully my pic of it will be better. Got tons of seed for it too which is easy to propagate. Just needs scarified and popped in a pot.

Don't know a thign about a Black Titi. Have only seen the white and yes it is a tree, so you probably don't want to do it.

Mark... Have you seen how the Black Bamboo grows? Would be nice if it could be contained. I like splashes of black , makes a statement amongest all the other colors.

Ella

Yes i know how black bamboo grows.............................. I have it in a container............!!!!
The reason i got it is because its not invasive, it just clumps up!!!!!!
Plus it is a beautiful colour....

Mark

Black Bamboo is really a neat plant! Love that black color. Would make a very interesting contrast. How tall does it get, Mark? Might make a nice natural privacy screen. Plants in front of it would sure pop out with that black background! WOW!

don't Indian Pinks grow in shade???

Becky

I dont know how high it gets sweetheart...................... mine is around 4' and growing!!! But they certainly are a very pretty thing to have...............
You should look at restio's too........................... they are a South African type of reed.............. they use them for thatching their rooves.........!! I have 3 varieties, and they are pretty cool things.

Mark

Donna - I was wondering the same thing. If that is true, perhaps I can grow it underneath something else?

Mark - Any chance of a photo of your Bamboo from possibly 8 feet away? I am a visual person. I need to see it to be able to imagine it in concrete terms. lol

I am going to put a small raised pond (water container) in one area of the bog. And I need bog plants to plant around the perimeter of this container pond to hide the black pond exterior. The container pond is 14" tall and 38" in diameter. (see attached photo.) I also thought of placing some sort of concrete blocks/brick around the exterior to hide the plastic as well. But this all has to fit inside of a 53" wide by 71" long bog bed that is right there against the fence. That only gives me about 15" of space around the perimeter of the pond within that garden bed. I am doing garden "rooms" and that will be the pond/water garden room.

Edited to clarify:
When I say 15" around the perimeter of the pond, I mean 15" LEFT (after placing pond inside this bed) from the fence to the wood edging at the front of the bog bed. I have more room on the sides of the pond depending on how I place it inside this bog bed.


This message was edited Dec 29, 2006 11:56 AM

Donna... Most definately. They love the shade, lots better than the hot sun.

Mark..... How's your pitching arm?????? How 'bout you just pick that container of Bamboo up and pitch it over here to me and Becky to play with? : ) ) Gonna have to try some of it since it clumping. Have you growed the blue too? Saw it when I was hunting for the black to see what it looked like.

Great idea Mark!!
I grow Bamboo indoors here in vases of water and glass rocks. Fabulous suggestion! It grows really tall, I would put it toward the back against the fence.
All the suggestions are great.. and I was going to suggest Texas Star, as I have seen it growing in ponds. Also Hymenocalis (Spider Lily)...many kinds will grow in water. Papyrus would be nice on the wettest part if it stays wet. I just love Papyrus, (though it might be better off in your pond). Cat tails are another thing I would love to have, which only grow in the bogs.

Isn't the other name for the incarnata Milkweed you have "Swamp Milkweed"? It should do well there. Also look in the seeds I sent ya for Hardy Hibiscus.. If I didn't send any, or enough, let me know. Now that I am here girlfirend, I will be thinking and looking into this for you, and get back with you on it hopefully before your soil settles.

:-S

I don't know if you've ever ventured up to Rockledge Gardens, but they are SO HELPFUL in finding the proper plants for certain areas. Unless you can find a dwarf Papyrus, I would not plant it. It can really take over a wet area...I had to dig up all of mine. When it does dry out a little, it turns brown and has to be cut back.

This message was edited Dec 29, 2006 12:42 PM

Drat! It's been raining off and on today. Hopefully tomorrow I can go get the soil and compost for this bog bed. Thank goodness I got all the cardboard down. One less thing to deal with.

Starlight - I'm with ya! Would love to perhaps try some of that Black Bamboo. Would be perfect in the water garden area of the bog garden.

deb - OOOOHHHH, I LIKE the idea of growing Bamboo in vases of water with colorful glass rocks! How do you grow Bamboo in a small container if it gets pretty tall? Inquiring minds want to know! :-D

Spider Lily, I'll have to check that one out on google. Yes, I was thinking Dwarf Papyrus for the pond in a container. I bought a dwarf cattail from HD, but I don't know if it will make it. It is for my pond currently, but if it gets too big of a spread, I may move it to the bog garden. Ironically, about 5 ft. behind my fence I have cattails (reg. size). I can see them sticking up above the top of the fence. lol

I was going to dmail you about the Hardy Hibiscus. Mallows? Correct. You did send me some seeds. Which I think have already sprouted. Nope! I just looked. It was the Scarlet Hibiscus that is sprouting. The Hardy ones that you sent me still haven't sprouted. Is there a trick to getting them to germinate?

I am going to plant some of the Swamp Milkweed seeds that I was sent in a trade. Probably when I finally get the dirt in the bog garden.

Gardenpom - YES! I love Rockledge Gardens. It's quite a hike for me though. About 60 miles away. I'm lazy. But I do email the experts there ocassionally. I might do that again concerning my bog garden. Good idea! Thanks for the suggestion. I agree with you on the Papyrus. Dwarf variety only!!! (I'll probably use it in my pond instead of planting in the bog garden.)

Oh boy! Finally got the soil and compost down in my bog bed. What a chore! Luckily my WONDERFUL daughter helped me out. I could not have done it without her help. I bought 66 bags of top soil and compost combined @ 40 lbs. per bag. Which equals out to 2,640 lbs. putting it in my van during pickup. Had to split this into two trips as my poor little van would have had flat tires for sure if I tried to haul it all at once. lol Naturally, you can never find a garden center fella to help load it. And then we had to unload it into the wheelbarrow and then into the bog bed which was another 2,640 X 2 = 5280 lbs. For a GRAND total of 7,920 lbs. Which in TON translation is almost 4 tons! Whew! My daughter rocks, let me tell ya!!!!!

Now the trick will be to see if both of us can get out of bed tomorrow. I just HOPE my back was able to handle it. I figured I lifted about half of what she did which is still 2 tons. Tomorrow should be interesting .... for sure. And I am not quite done. I have to put all the vinyl edging in along the fence/ground to keep the soil from eroding when it rains and floods back there. That should be fun. NOT!

We also moved one of the ponds into one of the bog bed sections and leveled it up. I think it's going to look very nice there. I plan to put a small paver patio area next to it with a comfy seat to sit back there and relax and enjoy the water garden area. That will be my water garden room. I bought a solar powered fountain online that actually floats in the pond as it sprays water to help circulate it. I do solar power alot in my yard because we neglected to put in outdoor electrical outlets around the exterior of the house when we had it built. Only one outlet on the screened in porch. Which is a bummer!

Now I have a question that perhaps someone can help me with.

What can I cover my bog bed with for the next 2-3 months while the grass and weeds underneath the cardboard dies, so the bed can be planted in? Would plastic sheeting work?

I don't want to grow mold and mildew there. But I don't want weeds to grow there either while those months pass. I have mulch in my other beds, but don't know if that is a good idea to put in a bog garden. So I'm open to suggestions. Please some of you give me some suggestions.

This message was edited Dec 30, 2006 7:43 PM