Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
trickle_gw

Please list the hardiest of bog plants

trickle
19 years ago

I live in zone 4, on the base of a hill. I am lucky to get 4 hours of sun a day. My soil is heavy grey clay and will stay soaking wet for a good part of the Spring and Summer. I have tried different flowers and vines, but most don't do well. I finally decided to give in and make a bog garden. I need a list bog plants that can take almost anything and survive! The only thing - I want COLOR. I am surrounded by trees, moss and ferns - all green. I am looking for contrast. Please give me your advise, Thanks

Comments (6)

  • LauraZone5
    19 years ago

    Would you consider Blue Flag Iris? They seem to weather it quite well around here and I am only Zone5. The bloom is a striking contrast to green foliage. The other thought I am having is Arrowhead. Those bloom profusely. Mostly white blooms. I am also thinking of nodding onions. Those are spectacular. They droop down as if they are crying and then flower as if they are an alium. I love them. I have some trickier plants here and the calopogan orchid comes to mind as well as Lady Slippers. Neither did well for me in low levels of illumination however they are all doing fine now that I moved them into another little bog that receives 6+ hours of sun a day. I guess this knocks out Ladies Tresses. Ladies Slippers, and Calopogans for you but that still leaves quite a few. Do you have any thoguhts one way or the other about carnivorous plants? Quite a few of the pitchers have intensely colored leaves.

    Fred... she's Zone 4 here. Can you suggest anything.

  • trickle
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Laura, Hi, You're over here too? I have lots of iris, both Siberian and Yellow Flag. I am going to transplant my arrowhead from my other pond to the vernal one, along with the lizard tail. Its around the pond (as a background)that
    I need color. I've been looking on sites, but nothing takes the place of someone's first hand experience.
    By the way- my water hyacinth bloomed today for the first time. It's so pretty! I never expected blooms due to low light. I'm not worried about it taking over, the winter will kill it off. I also have a water lily about to bloom. I'm so excited! Some day I'll buy a digital camera and send you a picture of my tiny pond.

  • fredsbog
    19 years ago

    Hey, Sorry I've been off the forums for a week, up visiting the bogs in the Copper harbor area of Upper Michigan. The list your wanting is a tall order perhaps. The clay is the biggest problem, and when it comes to true bog plants I know lots that can take zone 4. but wet clay soil that's a bit tougher.

    several of the lobelias would give you great bright color, Great lobelia (blue) and cardinal flower (red). Buttonbush would be a great shrubby addition, and if you're not too concerned about non-natives (sorry Laura) how about Elecampane. It has big bold leaves and tall spikes of yellow daisylike flowers, and it's very well behaved in my wet clay.

    Fred

  • LauraZone5
    19 years ago

    Hello there trickle! Of course I am here. I am into native flora and fauna for the sole purpose of restoration and conservation but my bogs are just for me and are pure pleasure. They are my treat to myself. Perhaps not somebody else's vision of a garden but maybe Fred will send you a few photos of his bogs so you will know what I want mine to look like someday.

    Hi Fred, she has to go with natives as she's dealing with a vernal pond. She doesn't need to risk mitigation in the future and authorities are getting very itchie lately. That can bankrupt a person. She has another pond that she can be less cautious with. So, natives will prevail for the vernal pond but she can most assuredly have a free for all with the other pond. Let me tell you a secret... I bought two non native plants for one of my water gardens. Shhh, don't tell anyone. They aren't invasive though.

    Ohhhhh Freeeeedddddddddddd! My calopogan bloomed! I talk to it everyday and tell it what a good calopogan it was to bloom for Mommie! My friends think I am absolutely nuts as the first thing I do is walk everybody over to where it is blooming so they can oogle at my sole flowering calopogan. Friends smile and are most assuredly thinking I have lost it.

    Say, what about American Cranberry for her? Viburnum trilobum. I just bought a buttonbush at The Natural Garden last weekend. That was a nice suggestion. Such a neat flowering shrub. So lush and well... buttony for lack of a better word.

    Last but not least, I just sunk another 250 gallon preform in the ground in hopes some amphibians will use it next year. I placed it in shade so this one shouldn't have any problems with string algae.

  • Mary_in_CA
    18 years ago

    Try Lysimachia Punctata - common name Yellow Loosestrife.
    It is native to North America.
    2-5 feet tall with yellow blooms. good luck!
    likes damp shade. invasive in stream areas so watch out!

    PS try putting some patches of good soil around plants that can't take clay and clump a few shade lovers for variety.

  • the_mikado
    18 years ago

    You might be able to use the northern version of Sarracenia purpurea...it grows into Labrador. That way, you'd have a carnivore option. ;)

    I figured Drosera anglica, too (http://www.cobraplant.com/drosera-anglica.html) and it seems that is so, since I'd always heard it grew around the bogs of the Great Lakes. (Do research this, though, as one of the Droseras, maybe this one, wasn't as acidic in its requirements...maybe even on the limey side.)

    Here they talk about severe winter care for CP:

    http://www.cobraplant.com/cold-region.html

    Just some ideas...

Sponsored
Closet America
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars133 Reviews
Northern Virginia, Baltimore & DC Metro's Closet Organization Company