The stones idea sounds kind of cool--but I'm no genius with dainage, etc. Tell you what...if I ever SEE Scott (my "drainage-wall-guy") again, I'll pose the question to him. He's not an LA--but has had lot's of practicla experience with issues of this type...can't hurt to ask!

melanie

ChickaDDD--
I see you've already asked at the bog garden forum--I'm surprised nobody spoke up from experience there. Sorry to say I know nothing about it, but would love to have your problem somewhere. Granted, the grass is always greener in somebody else's garden, but it seems as though there are so many neat plants that would do well in that situation. I won't list the ones up here in Alaska I've seen growing in the wild because the zone probably isn't right, except to mention that the interesting insectivorous sundew grows here, and I think I've heard of it in Florida. But there are lots and lots that grow in the bog, including various orchids and heaths.

Actually, I'm writing not to give information, unfortunately, but to ask you, what the heck is a rain garden? You've got my curiosity up. Sounds neat.

Egyptianonion

Hi Egypt.

I suppose a rain garden is related to a bog garden. Right now I have neither.

I have a grassy area soon to be turfed by the 110 pound German Shepherd making it into a mud garden. LOL

Here's a few links with information about rain gardens.

http://www.raingardens.org/Index.php

*********************************************************

Hi Melanie.

Thank you too for your reply. Wow. Twice as many replies as I have gotten in two to three months!

I'm leaning more toward the stone idea. Really leaning and then I wonder if I would have enough Celebrex to haul all that stone. LOL. I have it all planned out in my mind if I do it with stones. I made a simular area, though smaller at the far south border of the yard and I am very pleased with how it looks.

But, I could easily be persuaded to do something else. Having to mop the kitchen and halls 3 to four times a day after each dog potty break really cuts into my schedule.
*******sigh******

Thanks for your help as always!

Here is a link that might be useful: Rain Garden Information

Chick--

Thanks for the info about rain gardens. Interesting concept to mull over as we deal with some roof gutter logistics down south.

A couple of questions for clarification:

1. How much of the time is your low area actually wet or submerged under standing water?
(It seems to me that the rain garden ranges intermittently from inundated to dry or even droughty, while the bog garden is wet pretty much full time, each type calling for a different set of plants.)

2. Are you figuring on putting the stones elevated enough so that at flood stage the tops of them are high and dry? And then was the gravel going to be at the bottom of a shallow pool of water at times?

In anticipation,
Egyptianonion

Drain rocks in a muddy hole won't help it drain. You will just have a muddy hole full of rocks. You would be surprised how often this is done. Water runs downhill so find a place for it to go. There must be a general slope to your area. Have the water follow it. I try to capture as much water as possible without puddling and have it drip dry when it's not raining. Think of you planting beds as a thick quilt that aborbs water, but releases it also. One method I have used is to have a ditch dividing the lawn from the planting beds that excess water can drain into. Not fast but seeping. The shallow ditch is filled with mulch. The slope of the ditch has to be consistant so puddles don't form under the mulch. In difficult situations I have used perforated ADS pipe, (Black corrugated) buried under several inches of mulch to handle excess water. Chemicals, if you use them, don't drain from the lawn into the beds and they don't drain from the beds on to the lawn.
You may have to rethink the shape of your lawn to make this work, but if you think of the lawn shape as water it's not too difficult. As a general rule, the wetter it is, the more you contour it, the flatter it is, less contour is called for.

In 25 years of designing and installing yards here in the Seattle area, I have come across a lot of situations dealing with water. I started at the gutters and worked down. In some cases I had to work with the neighbors of my clients to make things work.

Without pictures or an on site inspection it is difficult to come up the the best solution, but I hope this helps.
Botann@aol.com

Chickadeedeedee, it sounds like you've already put a lot of thought into this problem. I'm guessing that, having lived there for 45 years, you know your yard pretty well!

I like the bog garden idea. You don't say whether your bog is in sun or shade, but there are wet-foot plants for both.

Here in the NW we have a Mimulus guttatus and Mimulus lewisii -- oh, I have to scan pictures for you! -- the first is bright yellow, the latter is exceedingly bright pink, and both are overjoyed with swampy-to-moist soil.

Rather than haul rocks, though, do you suppose your DH might be willing to build an elevated walkway? It doesn't need to be very high, just high enough so you, your dogs, and your guests can walk through your bog and appreciate all your beautiful plants up close.

I'm afraid that rocks will just slip into the muck, and then in addition to the chore of hauling them into the bog, you'll also (eventually) have to deal with the unappetizing chore of hauling them out again...

I'm with Egyptian, though: most of us are trying to figure out how to build a bog garden... not how to get rid of one that's ready-made!

Love,

Claudia

That elevated walkway idea sounds interesting. If you laid pipes under it, the way they run under roads to allow water to pass from one side to the other, you can have bog/rain garden on each side.
Otherwise, how bout putting up a barrier to keep the dogs out of that area, a low fence, a hedge, just enough to discourage them from going in there. Then you could add plants that tolerate wet sites.
Jo

My understanding is that a rain garden is placed where you want to capture water and prevent runoff. A bog garden is placed in an area where water is already standing, an area where runoff has already been captured.

I cant't understand how you would use weed cloth on an are like this without ending up with floating cloth and pebbles. Weed cloth is more trouble than it is worth, IMHO.

My sense of it would be to either correct the drainage following BoTann's sage advice(look at his gardens on Webshots, by the way--they are magnificent)or to put in a bog garden. I have so many clients who want bog/swamp/wetland perennials and shrubs . . . consider yourself lucky!

I can see a simple bed of Japanese iris followed by blooms of cannas and great blue lobelia . . . statuesque plants that would be arresting. A bench could be placed on dry land near the boggy area. Garden path stones (large, flat, irregular stones) under a bench keep the weeds down so you don't have to clip under the bench on your hands and knees. Also keep the bench level and not sinking into damp ground on one end or the other, and provide a finished look.

Luck with the project, Chickadee.

Ginger

In Seattle, on the edge of Lake Washington, there is an elevated wooden walkway that goes along the water through the lake's-edge wetlands. It's a lovely walk, and it affords the opportunity to see the wetlands plants up close.

The walkway is only elevated a few inches above the water/wetlands. It isn't on pipes -- the water flows freely under it. I think it's just constructed on pressure-treated lumber pilings.

I'll have to look at it more closely the next time I go to Seattle.

Love,

Claudia

Where did you go, Chickadeedeedee? How are you solving your low area dilemma? Let us know . . .
Ginger

Ginger, Chickadeedeedee has become a lurker. If you'd like to contact her, please send me email, which I will forward to her. She may either respond directly to you then, or ask me to forward her response to you, at her discretion.

Love,

Claudia

She has already contacted me. Thanks, Claudia