Bog Filled Up?

[Mmathis]

Yeah, that is strange you don't have any place to buy near you. Usually my place has an abundance of them. Guess they were hard to get this year cause of the virus. But, I have some coming my way now. Hopefully they take off and flourish!

Where I am in LA, we are a good 3-4 hour drive from any places.

 

[Sunshine]

Where I am in LA, we are a good 3-4 hour drive from any places.

Oh wow. Long drive for a few plants. That's a road trip. Ours is right up the road. But, this year, not a big selection.

 

[brokensword]

Sunshine; you can put just about anything in there that will put down roots. Impatients come to mind as well as going to the grocery store and buying some watercress. I hear it works well, is easy to pull when overgrown, and is prolific re rooting. And, should be easily available. I like iris, cardinal flower, pennywort, parrot's feather, and even have some hosta in mine. Also, Monkey flower is also prolific. I do have some creeping jenny in a portion of mine but it's more for decorative attributes than functional. Getting the plants to do your work is we're aiming for here.

And I'd probably put in a bit more gravel, just over the water line, to cut down on algae issues. Which btw, is another plant and IS helping you but not like plants with aggressive roots can.

 

[brokensword]

Adding a short video of my pond; the plants on first frame is the old bog and the portion dead center where the geese are, is bog v2. You can see I have a lot of plants, both in the bog and in the pond. That's the secret sauce...

 

[Lisak1]

Oh hosta is a good choice! And you might be able to find some cheap impatiens right now. It's not a great time to try planting them in the garden, but they love the bog! And watercress is always an easy choice!

 

[Sunshine]

Adding a short video of my pond; the plants on first frame is the old bog and the portion dead center where the geese are, is bog v2. You can see I have a lot of plants, both in the bog and in the pond. That's the secret sauce...

Gorgeous!

 

[Sunshine]

Oh hosta is a good choice! And you might be able to find some cheap impatiens right now. It's not a great time to try planting them in the garden, but they love the bog! And watercress is always an easy choice!

I think Hostas are mainly for shade? My bog is in full sun all day. A friend is sending me some plants, so hopefully it will work itself out. I will add more gravel when I put the plants in.

 

[brokensword]

I think Hostas are mainly for shade? My bog is in full sun all day. A friend is sending me some plants, so hopefully it will work itself out. I will add more gravel when I put the plants in.

Hosta can grow in the sun--I have lots in my yard this way. I too was surprised that hosta CAN grow in a bog, fearing the constant wetness would rot the roots but they are growing better than the ones in my garden!

And thank you for the compliment--appreciated!

 

[addy1]

I had hostas in the bog one time, deer, ground hog, something ate them down to nothing. The deer graze in the bog a lot. Not so much now that it is really grown up.
So no more hostas.

My bog and all the ponds are full blasting sun.

 

[IPA]

@Sunshine , I will disagree with some and say you don’t have a problem as far as the “dirt” layer over top of the pea gravel is concerned. I would raise the level of pea gravel at the edges of the bog in a way that you have a stream flowing from sides and back to the front. When I pull string algae from the bog it pulls out gravel too, I just toss it in a bucket and throw it all in the compost pile. But the dirt isn’t a problem, never knew a plant that didn’t like dirt, haha. If you “engineer” the flow you can make it so it isn’t seen as much. I’d say the only time it would be an issue is if you are trying to overstock the pond but that’s more like a koiphen discussion than garden ponds one.

 

[Sunshine]

Another question on the bog, since I'm in a zone that freezes and I shut my bog down in the winter, do I pull all the plants out and start over the next spring with new plants?

 

[poconojoe]

Another question on the bog, since I'm in a zone that freezes and I shut my bog down in the winter, do I pull all the plants out and start over the next spring with new plants?

No, just leave the plants and keep the bog filled with water. Don't drain it. They will return as long as they are hardy plants that would normally return in the Spring. Anything tropical will of course die off. The bog will freeze, but no worries.

It is advisable to disconnect any plumbing that feeds the bog. Any water trapped in the plumbing that freezes and has no room for expansion may damage the pipes.

I have a Fernco coupling installed between the pump hose and the bog piping. This makes for easy disconnection with a screwdriver.

 

[addy1]

Nope no draining no pulling plants, they come back great. If you drain it they most likely would not make it. The roots would dry up.

I pull my external pump, open the lines, which don't drain and let it sit for the winter. Before spring turn on I rake the bog surface removing any dead stuff, leaves etc. Done for the season, except pulling excessive growth.

 

[Sunshine]

I have our shut off valve up high on the outside of the bog. So any water left in it will drain back through the pump in the pond. That side of the pond freezes over on top and that's where most of the fish stay all winter. I leave the bio filter on the other side of the pond run all year. Thanks guys!!

 

[GBBUDD]

@Sunshine It’s never too late to add plants! I have to mail order mine, as we don’t have any aquatic centers near — can you believe that, in Louisiana! There are some common garden plants that like wet feet — lots of folks here use some plants that you wouldn’t think would do well. But you might want to add gravel. A lot of plants want their roots in the water, but not the crown. I think I’m going to ask on here for plant suggestions.

Hostas and impatience to start