BUILDING A BOG GARDEN

                                                                          

 

Recently, gardeners have begun working with nature in an effort to preserve it rather than working against nature to change it.  There is no better example of this than the wetland or bog garden.  The primary purpose of these plantings is to make use of damp areas--areas which formerly might have been destroyed, raised or drained because they were considered worthless, are now places to grow unusual varieties of flowers, grasses, ferns, and shrubs.

You can make a narrow strip or a sprawling bed, a simple edging of a few sedges and cattails, or an elaborate planting with rare bog garden species.  Even if you do not have an area that is naturally wet, you can consider making one to broaden the type of plants that you grow.

Butterfly Bush Attracts Butterlies
 

 

If your goal is a natural looking pond, then you need to have a bog garden area around it to make it look more realistic.  Some of the plants that are most attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies can be found in a bog garden.  Some examples are the towering Joe-Pye weed and the red cardinal flower.

In nature, you will often find ponds are surrounded by areas such as wet meadows or marshes, or swamps.  The purpose of these areas or bogs is to act as filters for ponds and streams by absorbing pollutants and silt.  In your home garden, the bog garden can also absorb water that might overrun your pond during a heavy rain.

By imitating the conditions of a true bog, you can grow fascinating plants.  Some are actually carnivorous in nature.  These include Venus flytraps, sundews and pitcher plants, as well as terrestrial orchids.  Plants that will thrive in shallow-water areas between a natural pond and a marsh are called marginals.  Marginals in a garden pond are grown inside the liner or in the case of a preformed pond, they are in containers, set on built in shelves, or lifted up on bricks.  Be sure to add fertilizer. You can locate easy to use fertilizer tabs for your plants at Drs. Foster and Smith.com.               

                                                                                                                                                

To create a natural looking pond, you will want to create your bog garden along one or more sides of it to

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provide a smooth transition into the rest of your landscaped area.  By planning the bog garden before your build your pond, you can create both at the same time.  Before getting started, visit natural ponds found in local parks or gardens to study the way the plants are grouped.  Try not to collect a vast amount of individual species for your bog garden as that will not look natural.  Instead, try and concentrate on just a few species that occur together naturally.

The bog garden area must be watertight.  To do this, either extend your pond liner, or you can use a piece of liner cut from a unused corner.  If you do use a scrap, then you will need to seal the gap between it and the pond liner with liner tape to minimize leakage from your bog garden. 

In order to keep soil from washing the bog garden into the pond, you will need to create a separation between them.  This division can be solid or attached.  If solid, you will need an independent source of water.  An attached bog garden allows the pond to provide water for the bog area.