Planning a mini bog

[Kalid]

I've decided I'd like to have a mini bog or series of mini bogs outside next season.

My plan is as follows:
Plant the plants in a pot that has drainage and place that pot into a larger pot that is filled with distilled and/or rain water.

At the end of the season, taking the planted pots and burying them to within an inch or two from the top and mulching them heavily.

Does this sound like a feasible plan?
Which is better side drainage (an inch or so below soil line) or bottom drainage? Possibly no drainage?

Can I set up the pots now with seed and bury the pots or is it better to stratify the seeds indoors and plant next spring? Currently I'm undecided on using seed or plants at this point. I'm more concerned with getting the correct plants that will survive the winter here....

I started off by researching Sarracenia's that are native to Michigan and quickly found that, that wasn't an option, so now am planning to put Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea and Drosera intermedia (not cuba) in this planned mini bog.

Is there a minimum size pot I should use? I would like to keep the pot size to something that I can move due to the way the yard is shaded.

Any other suggestions, questions, or links would be greatly appreciated. Also, any winter hardy plant suggestions are welcome. It seems that a lot of the plants I have found that are possible choices are hard to come by or endangered.

Thank you!
K.

 

[Capslock]

My advice is to use a minimum 12 inch pot. Bottom drainage. Go with plants as seeds take too long. Use equal parts sphagnum peat moss and either perlite or sand. Rinse the peat and sand/perlite well a few times first! Use only distilled or rain water.

At this point, I'd probably wait till spring to set it up, but you know your weather better than I do out here in California.

Capslock

 

[RamPuppy]

I say wait till spring to set up as well.

I use a 30 to 40 gallon pot (not sure exactly) clay fired pot, the outside is nice and finished, but the inside wasn't, so I bought some of that waterproof paint for concrete and liberally painted the inside of the pot, this waterproofed it nice and dandy! I never drain it, I filled it with peat and grow-cor (coconut fiber) in a 50/50 mix and my sars are happy as can be. My Leucos, which I got last year, are already about 26 inches tall, and they only get partial sun... fun fun fun...

what your planning sounds feasible, it just sounds like a lot of work!

Oh, and not sure where you live, so I don't know how this holds for you... but we get one or two nights that 'freeze' every year, I keep the bog wet (not as wet as summer) and throw a towel over it to protect the plants on these nights and I am done... but if you are in one of those areas that turns pots into pop-sicles... that won't work obviously... I can just tell you that I am 6'5" and weigh over 300 pounds (and I work out every day) and I have a seriously difficult time moving my mini-bog... so think about whether you are physically capable of getting it into and out of your winter holes... might be better to get it on a furniture cart and wheel it into the garage for the winter.

 

[Kalid]

Thanks to both of you for your responses.

I think my "mini" bog just got downsized, LOL. At the least it will probably be a series of one plant pots grouped together. I hadn’t seriously taken into account how much this would weigh, thank you for the reality check! I had hoped (a little too optimistic maybe?) that by having the planted pot sitting in another pot (reservoir) that it would cut down on weight, but after rethinking this part…definitely downsizing!

I am somewhere in the range of USDA zone 5b-6a (between lines on the maps I can find). As far as I’m concerned definitely “ice cube” weather, so when winter sets in fully here it will be worse. This will also be my first winter in this zone I’m used to much milder winters.

I appreciate the input, but I think ultimately over wintering outside all winter isn’t going to work. I think I’m going to have to do most of the dormancy in the fridge, unless I can work out some system to get the bog out of the ground in the spring.

Again, Thank you!