Re: Intro/new user

Robert Allen (Robert.Allen@Eng.Sun.COM)
Wed, 7 Apr 93 16:24:05 PDT

>>Now we get to the reason I have subscribed to this group. Since the yard
>>is pretty wet around the pond we decided to add a bog area. So far the
>>bog has only has one test plant, the only pitcher I could find (species
>>unknown - it is less than a foot tall and all the pitchers are a dark

This could be either S. purpurea, or a hybrid with this as a parent.
If it's fully recumbant then it's probably S. purpurea. If it
stands up straight it's probably a hybrid.

>>red). It seems to have survived our very wet winter (even snow!). I

The underground rhizome should survive snow. I forget how much
of a freeze they can actually take, but some people bury them in`
moss, newspaper or other type of mulch for the winter, mostly in
Northern areas.

>>read about this list in rec.gardens and hoped that I could learn enough to
>>keep from killing the test plant, and maybe choose other plants to add to
>>the bog that would be suitable. Spring is back (I know because all the
>>spring peepers are back!), so I guess it is time to plant a few more
>>plants. Does anyone have any suggestions? We would rather plant
>>species that are native to the southeastern US, since so many of the
>>native plants (and animals) are losing out to imported species. The

Personally I really like growing the US species, particularly
Sarracenia, which are reasonably large and rugged. Any of the
commercially available Sarracenias would be good low maintenance
plants. Some flytraps are fun, and then some butterworts, sundews,
and maybe even some bladderworts (which can produce lots of nice
flowers).

Note: US CP all go dormant in the winter and can be susceptible
to rot. However it's been my experience that large outdoor
planting seem a bit less susceptible.

Here are some species which might be good to use:

Pinguicula: primuliflora (prolific by leaf budding), caerulea
(nice flowers), lutea, planifolia.

Drosera (sundews): intermedia, rotundifolia (buy some seed and
watch 'em come up en masse), capillaris [the 3 prev. species
are rosetted], filiformis ssp. (long leaved, tall growing, goes
completely dormant and looks dead in the winter).

Sarracenia: flava, minor, leucophylla, purpurea, rubra. Or any
hybrids.

Don Schnells book on US CP is a good reference, and may be
available at a local library. It covers makeing outdoor mass
plantings a bit in the back.

>>plants will have lots of insects to feed on, since our pond doesn't have
>>any fish and most of the yard flowers have small flower parts which
>>attract small insects. Our soil is heavy red clay to which we have added
>>peat, so its very acidic and holds water. We also have a dense crop of
>>moss in the bog area. I noticed someone commenting on how moss bothers
>>the plants, should we remove it? All suggestions/comments are welcome.

It depends on what kind of moss it is. If it's thick & ropey, no
problem. The stuff which produces a dense, fuzzy, mat however is
not so great for small plants. It seems to choke the small plants.
This is only a problem for rosetted sundews mainly.

Robert