Bog garden in New Jersey

From: Susan Farrington (sfarrington@ridgway.mobot.org)
Date: Wed Sep 27 2000 - 05:33:38 PDT


Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 07:33:38 -0500
From: "Susan Farrington" <sfarrington@ridgway.mobot.org>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg2886$foo@default>
Subject: Bog garden in New Jersey

You should be able to grow ALL Sarracenia species in New Jersey,
provided you give them some protection over winter. I've talked to a
guy in northern Illinois who has grown all species for at least five years
in above ground bath tub bogs! For protection, burlap is okay, but
I'm concerned about using leaves: they tend to get wet and compact
and then you could have fungal problems. Plus they break down, and
the nutrients will wash into your bog through the burlap. I would
suggest pine needles instead, placed on top of the bog itself, with a
layer of burlap over that for some extra wind protection. If you can't
get a lot of pine needles, buy an extra "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree
and cut it up for its evergreen bows, and place them on top of the
bog. DON'T use straw, as it is very likely to create fungal problems.
Most importantly, don't cover the bog at all until it is genuinely cold,
and the plants have gone dormant: if you do it do early in the fall,
while you still have warm days, you could rot things. In New Jersey,
you probably want to protect it in early December or even mid
December, depending on the year. I used to live in Philadelphia, and
many years ago, I stuck two potted Sarracenia plants out in my
garden for the winter... they were planted in peat and sand in six inch
pots, and I didn't have a clue what I was doing really (this was very
early in my cp growing experience). I just knew I needed someplace
cold. So I sunk them in the soil, in a wet area of my garden... we had
a very snowy winter that year, and the Sarracenia leucophylla came
through just fine. I lost my Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa, though...
the opposite results you might have expected. I still have that leuco
today, though it has spent its winters in a cool greenhouse ever since.
This year, however, portions of it will be outside in my newly created
bog, which I intend to protect with evergreen bows. One serious
disadvantage to growing leucophlla outside all winter is how much it
slows it down in spring... it sure does help to get a jump start when
you have a cold greenhouse!

Good luck! Susan

> I live in New Jersey (zone 6) and I would like to know what species I
> can put in my bog. I would like to plant as many Sarracenia as
> possible but I am unable to plant all the species due to the winters
> here. Although I think that S. leucophyla and S. alata are out of the
> question, can I plant S. minor, Parrot Pitchers, S. flava, S. rubra
> and S. oreophila? I plan on covering the bog in winter by placing a
> sheet of burlap on top and covering this with leaves. Will this extra
> protection let me plant pitcher plants that are native to Georgia?
> What types of Butterworts can I plant, (P. lutea?) Can all types of
> Sarracenia be planted if I give the plants frost protection in winter?
> Thanks
>

Susan Farrington
Missouri Botanical Garden
P.O. Box 299
St. Louis MO 63166-0299
susan.farrington@mobot.org
(314)577-9402



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:35:13 PST