Bog garden plants

When planning your garden, remember that large plants must not shade out the bog – light is necessary for many plants to thrive, which is the opposite of ponds, where shade is valued because it stops algae and other nasties taking hold of the water because they breed so fast.

Things you can grow include:

Carnivorous Plants

This could be a lot of fun.  Bogs draw insects and insects feed ... pitcher plants (Sarracenia), hardy sundews (Drosera), and the Venus flytrap (Dionaea).  Not all of these are fully hardy in England, and there’s no real data on how well they do in other countries, so you may have to protect them with cloches over the winter nights.

Astilbe

This is one of the best and most widely grown bog plants for very good reasons.  The Astilbe foliage is deeply cut and often turns a copper colour in autumn, while the small individual flowers bloom in large feathery plumes between June and August in shades of white, cream, pink and even burgundy.

Irises

As a species, the iris flourishes in damp soil and loves acid conditions. Many of the smaller and more fragile iris do very well in bog gardens.  Bulbs can be lifted every three years or so and new bulblets divided off.  They will flower after about 24 months.

Primulas

Primula and primrose love moist rich soil with a little shade and by choosing your varieties with care you can have them in flower in a bog garden from April through to early August.  Once established they spread readily so you can divide clumps every three years and plant up new areas.

 

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