I decided to copy Tom Velardi today and make my very own bog garden. Mine is not as nice and full as Tom's but it's a start! I have two Venus Fly Traps (one is just coming out of dormancy), a sarracenia purpurea, and a Sundew (I think it is drosera rotundifolia). I'm not sure if I did this bog thing correctly, but I guess we'll find out! I used a shallow plastic bowl with no drain holes and filled it with a mixture of peat and long fiber sphagnum with a handful of perlite and a handful of vermiculite. I filled it about halfway with rain water so that it is really sloshy when I poke it, but nothing is actually floating. I just made holes in the mix and transplanted all of the CPs without disturbing the root ball. I'll keep my bog in full sun all day. Here it is:

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a93/tdrollo/2006_0614Image0002.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a93/tdrollo/2006_0614Image0001.jpg

Hi Teresa,

I know nothing about CPs but I think your bog garden looks great! :cool: Good job!:clap2:

Looks great to me also Teresa...I had a venusfly when I was a kid but it died and I never had one again...but I enjoyed it while it was alive...thnx.

so nice plants.

Looking good Teresa. Do post the progress shots!
Thanks for sharing

Teresa, will they grow bigger and multiply and fill up the empty spaces? :confused: I don't know anything about carni plants.

That's really cool looking! If I had sun I'd be putting in a big ol' bog. So many cool things to grow. :)

Teresa, will they grow bigger and multiply and fill up the empty spaces? :confused: I don't know anything about carni plants.

I don't know much either. I think they will get a little bigger, but what I really need is...more CPs! I have 5 pings but didn't want to put them in the bog garden because they don't like to stay as wet and they don't like as much sun. I would like another sarracenia though. I'm waiting for Tom V to tell me what else I can grow in my bog!:poke:

Your bog garden looks great! I also have a few carnivores among my orchids for gnat-control, they're really cool plants.

Maybe you could get some live sphagnum growing in there.

Maybe you could get some live sphagnum growing in there.

That would be so cool! I don't even know where to find it though. :confused:

OK Teresa! I’ve been busy and am on my way out the door, but here’s a few comments to your questions. First, your bog. It is cute, but I think a little too cute. Think bigger. I would find a permenant place for it in a sunny spot and get a BIG container, for example a kiddy pool, a large half barrel, a water lily pool, etc. You want it to hold as much water as possible (more than 50 gallon size is great, but smaller is OK too, but will take much more watering). Also, the top 4-5" should be above waterline. These guys like to have their crowns above water or they could rot. Drainage holes on the SIDES, NOT THE BOTTOM, of the container will handle this nicely.

Your planting medium: OK, but not ideal. The sphagnum peat is OK, but skip the long fibered stuff and vermiculite. I use 50% peat and 50% silica sand (not beach sand though!). Towards the bottom of the bog, I use pure silica sand and increase the peat content towards the surface. Obviously this is going to be heavy, so don’t expect to move it much, if at all.

You can plant many things: CPs, orchids, various little bog plants (I stress little plants, nothing invasive), even a few little bog shrubs is OK. I would avoid planting live sphagnum since it is a pain to keep going, potentially promotes rot, and it overwhelms small plants like sundews and pinguiculas. Also avoid any invasive species such as cranberry since they too easily overwhelm the bog.

CPs to plant include any Sarracenia species/hybrid, temperate sundews and pinguiculas, VFTs, and bladderworts. Good orchids include Pogonia and Calopogon species. Platenthera (once called Habenaria) are great too, but a little difficult to access. Other plants includes small species of sedge, bog buttons (Eriocaulon sp), Polgalas, yellow eye grass (Xyris), and so on. Too many choices for me to advise you precisely, just avoid large growing or invasive types.

If you are interested in sources for CPs here is a list of sources from a Carnivores FAQ Page (http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq6280.html) prepared by Barry Rice in conjunction with the International Carnivorous Plant Society. Most of these links should work.

I have ordered from Cook’s Carnivores, California Carnivores, Botanique, and Meadowview Biological Research Station. Of these I loved Botanique the most, but they are no longer doing sales to the public. All are reputable sources and don’t take plants illegally from the wild.

One last note, be careful about the sundews and pings you buy at Home Depot, etc. since many of these are of tropical origin and will not survive even your mild winter. Those are strickly inside plants unless you live in zone 9b or warmer.

Good luck. Now I’m late!

Tom

Why don't you plant a Cyp or two in your bog garden?

Sorry I made you late! I didn't mean to, honest! :innocent: Hmmmm, a kiddie pool sized bog :poke: hubby would really think I've lost it! I worry about having enough rain water to supply that big of a bog. I am running very low on rain water as it is and there is NO rain in sight. Probably what would happen is my kiddie pool bog would dry to a sand pit in the 110 degree weather and the cicada killer wasps would have a heyday digging holes in there and chasing me around the yard (like they already do!).

I will see if I can not kill the mini bog first and then move on to bigger and better things. This pot has no holes in the bottom, and I tried to plant the CPs a little above the water line. The holes in the sides will be best though to keep them from rotting. YAY! I get to use my drill! :poke:

I only grow my pings on windowsills, they seem to do well that way, and for dormancy I have a fully enclosed 2 seasons room and an indoor atrium that probably only gets down to 40 at the lowest. My VFT and sarracenia did well wintering there. My pings, they seem to just randomly go dormant whenever they feel like it. :rolleyes:

I think what I need is another experimental mini bog. I will see about getting some more CPs at the greenhouse I like here. They don't have very many, but usually they look better than the HD versions. I will also check out those online resources you suggested, thanks!

Why don't you plant a Cyp or two in your bog garden?

Peter! :poke: