Bog Trip - Southern New Hampshire - August, 2014

[Cthulhu138]

This weekend we visited an Atlantic white cedar bog in Southern NH. This location sits in a depression right smack in the middle of suburbia. The area is under threat of disappearing due to the encroaching red maples and grey birches that are invading the bog at an alarming rate. The trees have probably gained a foothold in the otherwise inhospitable bog due to phosphates from fertilizer run off from the surrounding neighborhood.

Here's the general habitat.





The one orchid we found was Pogonia ophioglossoides, the Rose Pogonia. This species was extirpated inexplicably from the site but was successfully reintroduced several years ago. Maybe next year we'll get to this location early enough to see them in bloom.



Drosera intermedia - These are by far the smallest examples of adult D.intermedia I've seen at any of the bogs I've visited.











Drosera rotundifolia - These plants were also much smaller than any other D.rotundifolia I've seen.




Note the foliage of Utricularia cornuta in this photo.



Utricularia cornuta - None of these were in bloom and only a single expired flower stalk was found.



Sarracenia purpurea purpurea - a seemingly healthy population on the brink of habitat loss.

Etiolated plants growing in what was once wide open bog habitat, now heavily grown in with saplings.








The plants growing in the open bog were beautiful and unique.
































































Fortunately we found many small seedlings in the area, ensuring at least for now that this population is continueing to grow and prosper.

 

[Whimgrinder]

Aren't purpureas beautiful in that setting - submerged in dense red Sphagnum?! Wonderful pics, thank you Johnny.

 

[Dragoness]

Very cool!

 

[Cthulhu138]

Aren't purpureas beautiful in that setting - submerged in dense red Sphagnum?! Wonderful pics, thank you Johnny.

Indeed they are. A completely different experience from viewing them in pots in a kiddie pool or in a mixed bog in someone's yard. Seeing their relationships with other native bog plants is a beautiful thing. These wild habitats have inspired my next project, a half barrel bog of strictly native New England carnivores, orchids and other plants we would see naturally in the ombrotrophic bogs of the area like Eriophorum, Chamaedaphne, Xyris, Lycopodium and Andromeda.

 

[Dragoness]

My original intention for my bog was for it to be 'native only' species. I got carried away, though.

 

[Cthulhu138]

It is certainly easy to get carried away. That's why I've decided just to do the small half barrel dedicated to the natives for now. I plan on doing larger one at my mother's house in NH down the road complete with open water for some of the local aquatic Utricularia. I actually planned it out quite a while ago and have already bought a large liner and most of the other supplies. I'll be sure to post pics if I ever get around to doing it.

 

[Tanukimo]

The live sphagnum looks beautiful. It is heartbreaking to see the Sarracenia purpurea getting overgrown by trees. I guess lack of fire isn't the only problem facing bogs (aside from habitat destruction).

 

[Cthulhu138]

The northern sphagnum bogs are not subject to fires like the southern savannah bogs. Two completely different eco systems. Most of our bogs here are comprised of huge mats of sphagnum floating on top of a peat slurry. The lack of nutrients in the peat of the northern bogs is what keeps other plants from establishing themselves in them. When phosphates from fertilizer run off gets into these bogs, it opens the door for other species of plants and trees to gain a foot hold in an otherwise unsuitable habitat. It's a big problem in the fragile eco systems of these bogs, especially ones like this which are very close to civilization.