Creating a michigan bog garden

[cockatielmother]

Hi:

I am going to try locating the cps native to Michigan to create a containerized bog garden.

Would now be the best time or would waiting til spring be better to allow more time for them to settle in before winter comes?

 

[jimscott]

We have a very experienced person from Michigan, who could be of help: Flytrap59.

 

[VeiledFighter]

I am from Michigan. I would be no help about setting up a bog in Michigan though. I am guessing you would have to put hey on top of your cps in the winter to keep them from dieing *just like you do for roses*.

 

[Glenn]

I also live in Michigan. I grow my natives outdoors during the summer and move them in for the winter. Will your bog garden be in the ground? You say containerized so I am assuming it will be above ground. If so, I think you will be taking your chances leaving the plants outdoors since they will be freezing solid and will be subjected to the cold drying winter winds. If you are putting it in the ground, I am guessing you should be just fine with MI natives. I had some U. macrorhiza make it through the winter in my water garden which freezes solid! I took most of them indoors for the winter.

The problem with overwintering indoors is the plants break dormancy sooner than I would like. I have started moving them outside sooner but I lost a few drosera due to frost.

Hope this helps.

Glenn

 

[Finch]

Why restrict yourself to cp's? in one section id have taller planst as a backdrop. Queen of the paraie is nice if u can restrain it and have a large area to spare! Red lobelia or cardinal flower gives a nice show. Western shooting star and swamp milkweed are nice. Swamp lousewort is a interesting semi-parasitic plant on sedges. But many of these should be kept away rom cps to avoid shading them out!

 

[jimscott]

Ooops, I fogot about Travis and Glenn! My apologies!

 

[cockatielmother]

Quote[/b] (Glenn @ July 26 2005,11:30)]I also live in Michigan.  I grow my natives outdoors during the summer and move them in for the winter.  Will your bog garden be in the ground?  You say containerized so I am assuming it will be above ground.  If so, I think you will be taking your chances leaving the plants outdoors since they will be freezing solid and will be subjected to the cold drying winter winds.  If you are putting it in the ground, I am guessing you should be just fine with MI natives.  I had some U. macrorhiza make it through the winter in my water garden which freezes solid!  I took most of them indoors for the winter.

The problem with overwintering indoors is the plants break dormancy sooner than I would like.  I have started moving them outside sooner but I lost a few drosera due to frost.

Hope this helps.

Glenn

Glen:

They will be in containers. Could I sink individual pots in the container for the summer and then move them to my regular shade garden for the winter? Do they need constant water in the winter too?

 

[Glenn]

Your problem in the winter if they are containers will be keeping the soil moist. Winter winds are very dry and suck the moisture out of the soil. If it freezes into a solid block off ice you will still need to check it. The sun will melt the ice and it will evaporate. An in ground bog garden would have a larger volume of water and would be less of a worry. I have kept non cps out in containers for the winter and it isn't easy (heavy losses). I don't have an inground bog so I don't have any experience, maybe someone else can comment on watering.

If you have spare plants, give it a try and let use know how it works out. I just wouldn't include your prized S. purpurea spp. purpurea f. heterophylla in your experiment.

Keep us posted and good luck.

Glenn

 

[cockatielmother]

ok.  I have two of the purple pitcher plants although I don't know which variety.  I'm letting them sit on my porch during the day and bringing them in at night so the squirrel doesn't visit them early in the morning and eat them.  Have to get my protective screen covering made next.

At this point I don't have the other plants to experiment with. The rest of my sarracenias will experience dormancy in the refrigerator.

Glenn: I grow rock garden plants in 8" deep containers with very little loss over the winter. I lose more in-ground plants than I do container plants. Of course, my containers are made of a plastic foam like substance which may provide some insulation.

 

[mabudon]

I would suggest getting "outer" containers for the pots which have no holes and are resistant to freezing (microwave safe at least, sinking them in the ground with the plants in them and covering the whole thing with pine needles
I live in southern Ontario and kept S.flava outside growing in 5 gallon restaurant food pails along with D.filiformis and D.rotundifolia by using this method.. much of this past winter they were under snow so I didn't really see them until early spring, but they were fine, I didn't lose a single plant
I plan on doing this with VFTs and a few other species this year since I have it on Sterling authority that it works just fine