Even with a liner? And a constant source of water? =


"John T. Jarrett" wrote:
=

I've lived in Austin and Houston for over ten years each now.
=

Unless you are on the East side of Austin AND have a ton of clay in you=
r
soil, a bog garden will go bone dry.
=

If I remember correctly, in both May and June of this year, each month =
had
one rainy day and totalled less than an inch on both days.
=

Here in the hills, the saying goes, "We live in a perpetual drought
interspersed with periods of flash flooding."
=

Sure enough, I have a little "weather bug" program and every time it ra=
ins,
I get a flash flood warning message!
=

But the plants I planted where my neighbor's yards all sloped into mine=

required watering every day in May, June and August (except when it rai=
ned
all of July). During the July rains, the exposed soil turned green with=

algae it stayed so wet...but turned into two inch deep cracks when Augu=
st
came.
=

I used to build wetlands in Houston - and I would kill to have made my =
wet
spot one! But everything would have dried out. I can't see how I could =
build
one here and expect ornamental plants to live year round without some k=
ind
of lining.
=

--
=

John T. Jarrett
http://logontexas.com
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"J Kolenovsky" wrote in message
...
That is the perfect reason for a bog garden. And you can design it wher=
e
dogs stay out. This would the least expensive and the best thing you
could do for a native habitat. You would be amazed that it:
=

1. attracts birds
2. attracts insects
3. atracts amphibians
4. is NOT a mosguito breeding ground
5. is a flood control/rention pond when filled with Canadian Sphagnum
peat moss
6. is a biofilter for rainwater
7. has year around interest
=

This would cost you about 1/4 to 1/3 what your other proposal would
cost.
=

http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/boggardenjuly.jpg
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/boggarden1.jpg
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/streetview.jpg
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden - my habitat
=

superstar_etta wrote:

So I am a new home owner...no lanscaping experience. I have an area
of my yard along the fence that is very wet and not draining well. I=

was going to dig a channel put in a large PVC pipe with holes in it,
cover the pipe with gravel then dirt (the yard has a slope to a huge
field). Has anyone heard of doing this? I want to then plant
shrubs/hedges on top of all this. So I was wondering what shrubs are=

strong enough for texas summers, but still benifit from alot of water=
?
Or can anyone think of another solution? We just bought the house
and I can't afford a landscaper and my dogs are getting wet and muddy=

all the time. HELP PLEASE
=

--
J Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/reference.html

-- =

J Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/reference.html