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Bog garden

What is the biggest outdoor bog garden built by a non-funded person?? (non-professional) I want to build a large one and am looking for suggestions. I live in NW FLA. and have a 60X30 pond that I was thinking of placing it next to.
 
if i were you, i'd put some sort of recirculating pump in the bottom, that way you can suck out out, nasty, smelly water and prevent anaerobic (sp) areas.
 
The existing pond is a natural pond. Iwas thinking along the lines of having the bog right next to it and allowing slight drainage to the pond. My idea is to dig a 10'X10'X 6"deep area and fill it with a CP mixture and see what happens I want to fill it with some local type CP (SARA) and maybe some fly traps.
 
I think that's a great idea. I might make it 12 or 18" deep, but adding it on to the side of the pond sounds very cool, as long as there is no danger of pesticide or fertilizer contamination in the pond. If I had a yard with a pond, that's what I would do for a bog. I'd also work in a boardwalk of sorts.
 
does it have to be so deep? it seems like 12-18 inches is over kill. i think 8 inches is enough.

why stop with sarracenia and dionaea? you could grow lots of drosera , pinguicula, maybe even darlingtonia.
 
If you live in NW Florida i would go to a local bog and make observations on how to make it
 
If the bog is made too shallow and there is a dry period, it could dry out if the water level drops too low. Also, the native soil may not be to the bog plants' liking if they grow below the dug-out portion.
 
you could slope it, make it highest in the midde that way you could grow lots of plants in different areas depending on how much water they like and it would make it seem larger/taller.
 
Thanks for the great idea's. I will go a little deeper. Most of the local CP bogs that are easily accessable seem to be on a slope so I'll probably do that also. I don't have much luck with anything other than Sarracenia's and Dionaea's, however I will give other CP's a try. Any more ideas?
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  • #10
I agree with ptfreelander in that the bog soil needs to be much deeper. I have sarracenia seedlings with roots 6" to 8" long/deep. I can only imagine how deep the roots of a full grown sarr will go. It will also help in times of drought. If there were a way to pump water from the pond to the top of a near by slope(as in sloping down to the pond) water could move through the soil very much like in a seepage bog.
 
  • #11
If the native soil is sand or clay, you don't really need to worry about much added substrate.  The S. alata populations I've seen on the Gulf Coast were growing in very heavy clay with a bit of sand and with almost no organic matter (peat).

On the other hand, the plants may grow more happily in a lighter mix.  My point is, they can grow perfectly well in media other than peat.
 
  • #12
I was wondering about the pond water, but I thought that there might be too many nutrients in the water (the pond is stocked with fish). Any thoughts???
 
  • #13
In my experience, the nutrients in water due to fish are good for the plants.  I've grown Sarracenia in pots half in a small pond over-stocked with comets, and they grew amazingly well, with non of the fertilizer complaints (burning leaves, withered growth, etc).

I think you have to watch out for chemicals added to water, rather than naturally occuring ones.  I'd have no reservation running pond water into a bog unless chemicals are washing into the pond.
 
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