Deb - Thanks for the cutting and shipping suggestion for the BB for Mark.
Oh good! Glad to hear the GF is getting ready to do the morphing into a chrysalis. Whoo Hoo! Make sure the chrysalis is relatively hard before shipping. Don't want it to get damaged during shipping. I look forward to getting your package! I'll take real good care of your GF baby. :-) :-) It'll have a good life here in warm Florida and I have lots of Maypop vine that it can use as a host plant to lay eggs on if it's a female. Either way, it will have it's choice of mates with all the GFs I have currently in my yard! :-) Maybe if it's a he ..... he'll like the Florida GF ladies! LOL!
How awesome to be getting your tables done. Are they for your new greenhouse? Happy Sowing!
Need ideas for a long bog garden
Actually I am putting a few tables in the GH and some out under the tree for a good hard stratification period before Spring arrives. Which will be here very soon..
I will snap a pic of the tables tomorrow so you can see. (This WSing is for places which acutally have a wintertime.) Since our zone has one, even only for about 2 months, I am going to try this to get the most bang oout of my seed bucks. Even the Nurseries here don't sell all the plants I wanted to establish this year.. so I got seed. Some will probably go in the GH, eventually.. will let ya know what happens.
o/~
This is the far right section of my bog garden. Each section is 6' long and there are 10 sections plus the short little section next to the end of this side of the backyard corner.
A person on another forum from another website sent me 3 nice sized canna tubers. It is supposed to have the smaller red flowers. There were no leaves on any of them when she shipped them to me about 2 1/2 months ago. The largest tuber/rhinzone is seen here in the pot next to one of my ponds. Notice how large the leaves are after such a short time. In the pond on one of the ledges is a Bacopa (which is supposed to be a host plant for the White Peacock Butterflies). I haven't seen anything eating it, though I do have several WPs in my yard all the time. The pond also has 4 hardy waterlilies in it, but they don't seem to be taking off like my tropical waterlilies in the other pond. (Perhaps they are dying for some reason .... they were HD waterlilies and I don't always have luck with HD plants.) And the black looking (dead) stalk is a red root plant. It is sending up new shoots from the root ball, but don't know if you can see them in this photo. It is kind of like a water reed plant. It gets narrow tall leaves and looks nice in the pond to give it a tropical water garden effect. It also sends up a single stem with a cluster of pale yellow flowers that later become the seeds. The bees like it! Perhaps the butterflies, too. Don't know.
Ella - Can you tell me more about the Indian Pinks and the White Ginger plants? Or anyone?
I have to wait a few months for the bog to be ready to add plants into the ground. So I will be growing my plants in pots for now. Which is nice because it allows me to move them around to see how best they would look with other plants. I have to make sure the pond has full sun and no shade. The fake lilypad fountain floating in it runs on solar power and the solar power is NOT stored up. So the fountain only runs when the sun is shining. So I can't plant any tall shady plants next to it that might shade it too much.
What do y'all think? Any ideas of plant groupings? I am brand new to bog gardening and almost new to water gardening. When I say this area is a bog garden, it may not be mushy all the time except during flooding. But it is always a moist/damp ground area. at least 6 hours or more of sun during the day, too! So there are probably all kinds of possibilities of plants that would grow in those conditions.
This message was edited Jan 7, 2007 11:52 AM
Becky, I have both regular papyrus and dwarf and would be happy to give you some of either or both. The big papyrus is near my front door and grows very well with watering twice a week. It has gotten very tall and spreads wide but can be controlled. I would say it is 5-6 feet tall.
The dwarf is planted on either side of my garage and also gets watered twice a week. It does just fine but of course could take much more water too. It is 1-2 feet tall and stays in bush form.
Here is a question for you....(or anyone). I got a square 8" cube glass container that I want to fill with water and float one nice water plant in. It is on my sofa table and gets indirect light. Anyone have any ideas of what one plant would do well?
Thanks!!
Karen - Would it be too much to ask if you would mind taking a photo of both your papyrus plants. I am a visual person and have never grown papyrus, so I am not that sure how it looks. How tall is the regular papyrus supposed to get? And the dwarf?
I just might be interested in one or both of yours. I don't have a clue as to how to grow them. How easy are they?
I also just received a box of 2 different varieties of ditch lilies (Hemerocallis fulva). Both have orange flowers. One is the single flower and the other is the double flower (kwanso doubles). They can be invasive, but I may grow them by using a barrier under ground around the section of the bog that I grow them in. Or ... I may confine them by growing them in pots. They are supposed to be the original daylily that all other varieties come from. I love daylilies and these like damp roots. The invasive part I will have to figure out.
Have you noticed a pattern with me? I tend to like easy to grow "invasive" plants! (sigh)
tropicalkaren
Water Lettuce floats and is very attractive, but I'm seeing invasive, not here as it wouldn't live outside. If not prohibited it wouldn't be too invasive in a glass container.
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Plants/water-lettuce.html
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/660/index.html
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/pistia.htm
http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/pistpic.html
Looks like it's prohibited class2 whatever that means, even though it could be native
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PIST2
Water Hyacinth? Hmmmmmmm,
http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/hyacin2.html
Karen - With indirect light, it may be hard to find a water plant that will do well there. (I don't know.)
Seems I remember you saying that you have Passion Vine in your yard, am I right? My suggestion would be to cut a bloom or two each day to float in the glass container. I did that for my patio table on my porch this fall and it looked really pretty! Everyone thought it was a fake flower because it is so unusual! It lasts all day and sometimes even two when it is floating in water. Just a thought to float flowers in the glass container.
That's a great idea Becky. Floating flowers instead of a plant. Thanks (also to wallaby1). I did try a water lettuce and it died.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/53964/ dwarf papyrus
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/6066/ papyrus
This message was edited Jan 7, 2007 3:13 PM
Karen - The photos on DG are really gorgeous! Especially the regular Papyrus. Are they also called Umbrella plant? Do they need to grow in water? My bog garden isn't quite as boggy as before I added the soil, compost, and mulch. I am sure any plant growing in it will have roots that find moisture and damp soil. But I can honestly say it is not as boggy as it was. That's what happens I guess when you add dirt to a bog area.
Yep Becky, ya raised it up a few! Cool.... You can still have places in there that stay pretty wet.. For the most part I will accept that my back gardens will be the opposite of bog.. unless I water 3 x a day. Good thing water restrictions can only catch me if it is in front. Now i'm not one to break the law so much as when my plants are thirsty I will douse them down at least by hand.
Papyrus... one I would love to have..but I might have to wait till I fig out where I want a pond and plant some in there.
This was indoors last Christmas at the Botanical Gardens in NY.. give you an idea on the form the Papyrus plant takes on... Tall, yet doesn't make any shade to speak of.
Here are some bonier sections..
Deb - Thanks for posting those photos from the Botanical Gardens. How pretty they are! I really do like how they look. I did dmail Karen to see if I could get a piece of the dwarf version from her. I might grow it right in my pond in a pot sitting on one of the shelves. Very eye catching this plant is! I LIKE it!!! :-)
YW Becky,
Sheila has some in one of her ponds...a really nice plant!! Your lucky to have a place it will grow well.
I like it a lot too!
Wow...looks like a fun and rewarding gardening project. I hope you will provide us with an update of your new bog border.
Have not forgotten Becky, will send some next week. K
Deb, that Papyrus is beautiful!
Love the bog garden Becky!
This is a site specifically for FL. They have Butterfly Gardening, Gardening For Wildlife etc. If you go into Butterfly Gardening, then click on the latin name of the plant, it will give you all the information that you need.
http://www.nsis.org/garden/
Have fun!
Thanks Roxie! Those aren't mine.. I saw those Papyrus in NY Bot. Garden, and fell in love too. Btw we saw a few of our geckos the other day while clearing some things in the backyard.. The pics turned out really crummy, or I would have posted it in your miss my critters thread..
Very good suggestion terry! That should help Becky a lot!
Deb
Karen - Thank you! I look forward to trying the dwarf Papyrus in my bog garden! :-) :-) :-)
terryr - Thank you for the good website for Florida gardeners. Very helpful, indeed!
deb - Just wondering .... are you going to try a pond or container water garden sometime this year?
Yes I would really like to have a small pond Becky, have been for a while. It will likely be later on after Spring is really kicking in..so much to get started in the dirt still. It will be cool to have one of the lilies you mentioned!!
Have you found any Cat-tails for the bog so far?
deb - I have a dwarf cat-tail that I bought from HD. But it turned out to be only a rootball. I don't know if it will grow or if it is dead. I went ahead and potted it up and stuck it in my pond on one of the shelves in shallow water. I guess I will find out come Spring and Summer. Someone told me that cat-tails go dormant in the winter, but come back when the weather gets hot. We'll see. I definitely want some dwarf cat-tails in my bog garden. It wouldn't be a bog garden without cat-tails, ya know what I mean?!
BTW - I got my two container ponds at HD. They were $30 each and have 3 plant shelves in them. They are made of rugged, high-density polyethylene. Comes in a variety of shapes and sizes making it easier to visualize your finished pond. Has multiple ledges and zones already built it. More time-consuming to install because hole must exactly match liner design. But in my case, I am not installing them into the ground, I am building an area around them above ground. I am going to use bricks or blocks and dirt around it. They will both be above ground ponds.
Tonight, my dh and I were making an extension for a bird feeder (that I bought a week ago on clearance at HD). What a pain! It fits on the post now, but the extension is a little too big, so we now have to figure out a way to make it snug. It will look good once it is all finished, but I hate buying something only to have to modify it to fit my needs. I hope all this work is worth it to the birds! LOL This is going in the middle of my backyard. It will be part of the Bird Watching garden room. I have a butterfly garden room, a bog garden room, a herb garden room, a bird feeding garden room, and a hummingbird garden room. Plus the Patio room which I hope to also do this year. I plan to eventually link it all together with a winding path. My only fear ..... another devastating hurricane. Since the damage we sustained in 2004, it is something that weighs heavily on my mind everytime I do anything to my home and property. It is an uneasy feeling and this warm winter weather has me very worried about Hurricane Season 2007. I don't have a good feeling about this coming Summer and Fall. And neither does my dh and many of our neighbors. We all have the same fear in our hearts. =:-O
This message was edited Jan 13, 2007 9:52 PM
Aww I hope any hurricanes miss ya! It would be hard for me to live there.. Guess that's another reason Fort Worth is a good place. We are about 300 miles north of the coast, and right at the foot of tornado alley. Suppose it is like anything else we love in the world, it can only be temporary. Most things can be built back in time..getting through the storm to tell about it is more important.
Knew about the pond liners, I have moseyed by them many a time to see what's new until we're ready to get one. Definatly going to buy one this year, just wanting to get all the dryer areas in place first. I am the same about Cattails, a must have! They might be one of the things that must go dormant to survive well, even in Florida, lol. Look forward to seeing yours come up. Very cool to have separate 'rooms' too. Then you can control the requirements better, wtg!! Sounds positively perfect!
Well, I was doing a little googling for "bog garden" and found a very interesting website:
http://www.pitcherplant.com/flytrap.html
If you got down to the bottom of this webpage you will see more plants listed that you can click on. It is a fascinating website!
I really like the carnivorous plants such as the Venus Fly Trap plant, the different species of Pitcher plants, Sundew plants, etc. I also love the look of the bog Orchids. Because I have a total of 11 bog sections along the back fence, I figured that I could add themes in each small 6' X 4' garden beds.
My dilemma .... if I plant carnivorous plants, I may risk trapping butterflies, dragonflies, bees, etc. Flies would okay! (lol) Or then again, maybe not. Maybe it would trap the smaller bugs, not larger creatures.
Please,I need honest opinions here. I'd really like to hear some opinions of these bog plants! Thanks for taking a look and giving me some ideas about this!
Should I risk using these types of plants in one of the small bog garden beds?
I came across another really good website article for bog plants:
http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/gardenplants.html
Decisions, decisions ..... I haven't a clue as to what to do. All this garden space and not sure what to do with it all. (Though ... trust me .... I will figure it out by Spring!)
I can hardly wait to hear what you have decided to plant. As large (long) an area you have, I'm sure you may plan to group various plants together to create your bog habitat. When you finalize your plans, please give us a list and pictures. I've really enjoyed reading this thread.
Deborah♥
Hope you are gonna post loads of pics then Becky......................
Deborah, Mark, and everyone - I will definitely post some photos here on this forum when I get the bog beds filled in with plants! I'm having fun "planning" this garden. It's nice to have some great bog seeds and room to grow them. The sky is the limit!
Well ...... almost .... lol
You go girl~~ We will watch by remote, I trust you will keep us all posted. :-S. From what I have seen, a little goes a long way... Everything has a more robust growth there. It should turn out to be a very lush spot.
Cheers!
Thanks, Deb! Some of those wonderful seeds you sent me will be going in the bog garden! Thanks again for thinking of me and sending some terrific seeds for my newest garden beds! I truly appreciate it!!!! :-)
Becky, d-mail me your address and I will send some dwarf papyrus.
Oh THANK YOU, Karen! I really appreciate it so much! You have dmail.
Oh Becky..................... whos a lucky girl...................... all these wonderful seeds you keep getting!!!!!!!!
You are gonna be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo busy!!!
Mark - Well I do soooo appreciate all the generous folks here on this forum and on DG as a whole! I have the garden beds to fill, so y'all are saving me a fortune in plants by sharing your seeds! Joining DG is the best $15 I have spent in a long time! :-)
And Mark ..... I DO appreciate YOU, too! You've been very generous with some awesome seeds, too!
Y'all are the BEST! Folks of the Butterfly Forum ROCK!!!! :-) :-) :-) :-D
Becky, to add to your list of bog plant possibilities you may want to look into Ligularia dentata. Let me know if you want some seeds. I don't know the culitvar though.
Deborah♥
Thanks Deborah! I'll check out the info and photos on that plant. :-)
Aww Becky.................................. sometimes youare a real sweetheart!!! hehehe
Deborah - I looked up Ligularia dentata “Big Leaf Ligularia”. What a huge gorgeous plant! It needs shade, so I don't know if that will work in my bog garden. But .... I may figure out a place in my yard for it somewhere. Lovely plant and flowers! Thanks for suggesting it! :-)
There are so many plants to chose from ..... where does one begin????!!!
Mark - I noted the "sometimes" in your post above. Uh .... are you implying that I am NOT always a sweetheart? Oyee! LOL!
BTW, Mark - I don't think I ever told you what a fabulous garden you have on your property. It is absolutely to die for! Where did you learn how to create a garden like that? Please don't tell me that you just played around and did trial and error. (I would NOT believe it.) I think I need to take a gardening class or something. I am seriously lacking the artist gardening eye needed to arrange grouping of plants in a garden bed to be as stunning as what I see from many of you. Especially you, Mark. So are ya going to give up the taxi business and go into landscape design? You certainly have the talent and eye for it! :-)
I have to agree with Becky... You got the knack!!
I'm glad I have a ring side seat to your gardens Becky.. years from now we will look back on all this... and we will have all this great forum documentation to remember it better!
Stupendous!!
How's your garden coming alond Deborah?
Hey, Deb, I'm watching Becky's bog garden thread very closely! I checked on the 50 something asclepias curassavica plants that I started from seed in August. all but one is visable. Hopefully most are growing roots under all the mulch. Most of the swamp milkweed that I started from seeds inside are really putting on leaves now.
The pond filled up too much with our recent rains. Probably higher than I've ever seen it in 27 years. Drown lots of my daylilies. When the water level goes down, only water-loving plants and annuals will be past the current water mark.
I'm winter sowing more butterfly host plants to go around the pond and will also plant butterfly nectar plants at the water's edge. Becky's thread here will give me lots of ideas.
Deborah♥