Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 07:17:18 -0600 From: "Susan Farrington" <sfarrington@ridgway.mobot.org> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg921$foo@default> Subject: Making a cp bog
Hi, Miguel,
About a month or two ago, there was a fair bit of discussion on the
listserve about making a bog... you may want to search the archives.
For those who read all that, sorry for the repetition!
I take care of a cp bog here at the Missouri Botanical Garden... it is
inside a conservatory, but it is a cool conservatory (5 degrees C is the
low in winter). It is HOT in the summer, though (40 C is not unusual).
It is constructed with a flexible liner, filled with a mixture of peat, sand,
and long-fibered sphagnum. Watering is done daily overhead with a
hose that is connected to a reverse osmosis system. Live sphagnum
moss covers most of the bog, and I grow most types of Sarracenia,
VFT's, quite a few sundews, utrics, a few pings, etc. I have trouble
with Sarracenias in the hot summer, primarily due to poor air
circulation, high heat, and not the fullest of sun (problems you won't
have). I end up having to keep them in pots, rotating them outside
every month or two to keep them happy. The two Sarracenias that do
very well, and are permanently planted (no rotating) are psittacina and
leucophylla.
At home, I just finished constructing a bog outside. It is three
irregularly shaped rigid pool features jigsawed together... the middle
one is a pond, the other two have peat and sand. I've installed them
on a very slight slant, to allow for a higher and drier end, and a lower,
wetter end. There are a few holes drilled about two to three inches
from the edge on the lower end, to prevent total waterlogging. I have
also put a PVC pipe (3/4") in the middle of each bog, with a cap on
top, so that I can siphon out old water as desired. It also provides a
handy way to check the water level in the bog... I just put a stick
down there and pull it out to see how high the water is.
I visited Meadowview Biological Research Station this past weekend
(near Fredericksburg, Virginia) and they have just created a cool
lookng water garden/bog feature there... it consisted of two water
pools, one cascading gently into the other with the use of a pump, and
I believe the water was recirculated through the upper bog feature as
well. I'm assuming that the water then seeps out of the bog and back
to the water feature... a nifty way to make the whole thing self
watering!
Good luck!
Susan
Susan Farrington
Missouri Botanical Garden
P.O. Box 299
St. Louis MO 63166-0299
susan.farrington@mobot.org
(314)577-9402
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