HOW TO CREATE A BOG GARDEN

The best way to make a bog garden is to use an area that is naturally damp and soggy, but failing this you can start from scratch. A bog garden is really just a halfway house between dry land and a pond. In fact perhaps the ideal place is next to a pond so that the boggy ground leads into the deeper water. This article by Carolyn Black which I found over on The Master Gardeners website explains it all in more detail.

A bog garden is an area near a body of water that contains moist soil which produces a habitat for plants that thrive in moist conditions. Typically, bog gardens exist in low-lying areas near a pond, lake or stream, but a bog garden can be created in a container specially designed for them.
Bog gardens make a lovely attraction in any landscape. A carnivorous plant bog garden can be a center point of drama and intrigue as well as beauty. Artificial bogs can be constructed to cover a large or small area. These gardens can be positioned in the ground to appear natural or assembled in a container as a lovely and unique dish garden for the deck or patio.
Designing the layout of your bog garden will take foresight. Design a bog garden in much the same way you would any herbaceous garden, grouping the plants in relation to their heights, textures, and colors. If your garden is to be viewed from all sides, it is best to group taller plants toward the center. Smaller varieties can be showcased along the outer edges.
Aquatic carnivores or other water plants can be grown in the bog garden. The species of plants you can grow in a bog garden are those that thrive naturally in a peat-based soil. Most enthusiasts enjoy growing a wide variety of carnivorous plants in a bog garden such as caltha palustris (marsh marigold), dionaea muscipula (venus flytrap), myosotis scorploides (water forget-me-not). A low-growing bog can be impressive by utilizing species such as Sarracenia purpurea (purple pitcher plant).

See more at The Master Gardeners

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