I was wondering that maybe orchids would tollerate a mix of peat, sand, and dirt?

thanks,
steven

If you stick to peat, sand, and inert materials like pine needles, or perlite/vermiculite, the nutrient levels will be low and you'll have a much better system (that is if you are truly wanting a bog for orchids and CPs).

What you are talking about is a fen. Bogs are fed strictly from rain water and nutrients carried in by rain. Fens on the other hand are fed by ground water and are much more diverse in their plant material. They are also darn hard to approximate in the garden, and a heck of a lot more work for little. I put in a bog and a fen garden, thinking I'd have a great pair of gardens. The fen took off and was my favorite with many bog species plus Cypripedium orchids etc. Now (7 years later) the bog looks like this:
and the fen is a nasty weed patch with nothing more than two Cypripediums in it. this garden will be dismantled this fall and redone as another bog. If you'd like to see the difference I'll be glad to go and take a photo of the fen tomorrow so you can compare.

Bottom line, if you're going to all this trouble to make an artificial bog garden don't skimp and do it right the first time...I speak from experience!

As a side note the dark red flowers are from Sarracenias and the purple are Calopogon orchids, there are also Spiranthes, Platantheras, Venus fly traps, Sundews, and a couple of federally endangered plants in the bog.

Sure - please, let us see a picture of your fen - also, please check out my question under orchids easy to grow - regarding overwintering them and regarding moth orchid and how to tell by labels what is hardy enough to winter in zone 6b

In this picture you can see the bog garden with pitcer plants in bloom in the background. I love my bog too much. So, after this season is over I'll be creating another in the hole left by the "fen".

Interesting! What Cyps do you have in that fen garden. C. candidum? Also, what are those yellow flowered creepers I see at the margins, some kind of Lysimachia? PF

I do have C. candidum currently in flower with 2 flowering stems and 2 nonflowering. there is a game preserve a couple of hours from here where there are an estimated 30,000 C. candidum plants, the largest stand in the country. Mine came however from a friend who's a botany professor. I also have C. reginae (from cyp. haven).

Yes the #%^$# yellow creeper is Lysimachia nummularis, money wort. I liked it at first but it has choked out some of the less sturdy plants in that garden, like fringed gentains that used to grow there.