I've given up on trying to rescue a 10 x 8ft area of lawn at the bottom
of my garden. It just wants to stay wet for 11 months of the
year...thanks to my deep Berkshire clay. It had anyway become populated
by boggy weeds so I have decided to let it be a bog garden. I didn't
like the weeds though so I have removed the topsoil, complete with most
of the weeds and roots and what turf there was and I now have a clear,
brown patch with puddles. I would like to beautify a bit while planting
some bog-lovers and would be grateful for advice.

Firstly, I'm all ears for plant recommendations. I want some height
mixed with some colour, but I don't like anything that looks like giant
rhubarb (threw some of that away). I guess I want it to look at least
semi-cultivated/planned rather than some bog gardens that I have seen
which are more or less overgrown with the kind of coarse leaves that
I've just dug up.

Next, should I improve the soil or just leave it be? It can clearly
support healthy weeds.

Presumably I will need to make planting holes - but I'm thinking these
will just fill with water. Maybe I should plant in baskets?

Should I edge the area, maybe with rocks or sleepers and/or some
marginal plants?

And to prevent the weeds returning could I cover with a
weed-suppressing fabric, mulch and/or gravel/slate/shingle?

And finally, the supreme irony: for the one month of the year when this
area dries out, should I add water?

Thanks for any advice.

Simon

"Stan The Man" wrote in message
...
I've given up on trying to rescue a 10 x 8ft area of lawn at the bottom
of my garden. It just wants to stay wet for 11 months of the
year...thanks to my deep Berkshire clay. It had anyway become populated
by boggy weeds so I have decided to let it be a bog garden. I didn't
like the weeds though so I have removed the topsoil, complete with most
of the weeds and roots and what turf there was and I now have a clear,
brown patch with puddles. I would like to beautify a bit while planting
some bog-lovers and would be grateful for advice.

Firstly, I'm all ears for plant recommendations. I want some height
mixed with some colour, but I don't like anything that looks like giant
rhubarb (threw some of that away). I guess I want it to look at least
semi-cultivated/planned rather than some bog gardens that I have seen
which are more or less overgrown with the kind of coarse leaves that
I've just dug up.

Next, should I improve the soil or just leave it be? It can clearly
support healthy weeds.

Presumably I will need to make planting holes - but I'm thinking these
will just fill with water. Maybe I should plant in baskets?

Should I edge the area, maybe with rocks or sleepers and/or some
marginal plants?

And to prevent the weeds returning could I cover with a
weed-suppressing fabric, mulch and/or gravel/slate/shingle?

And finally, the supreme irony: for the one month of the year when this
area dries out, should I add water?

Thanks for any advice.

Simon

A weeping willow tree?

In article , Stan The Man
writes
I've given up on trying to rescue a 10 x 8ft area of lawn at the bottom
of my garden. It just wants to stay wet for 11 months of the
year...thanks to my deep Berkshire clay. It had anyway become populated
by boggy weeds so I have decided to let it be a bog garden. I didn't
like the weeds though so I have removed the topsoil, complete with most
of the weeds and roots and what turf there was and I now have a clear,
brown patch with puddles. I would like to beautify a bit while planting
some bog-lovers and would be grateful for advice.

Firstly, I'm all ears for plant recommendations. I want some height
mixed with some colour, but I don't like anything that looks like giant
rhubarb (threw some of that away). I guess I want it to look at least
semi-cultivated/planned rather than some bog gardens that I have seen
which are more or less overgrown with the kind of coarse leaves that
I've just dug up.

Marsh marigold, Caltha palustris - and you can get double flowered
variety - glossy leaves and big buttercup flowers.
Ragged robin - delicate plant with finely divided pink flowers
Primula rosea - rather aggressive pink colour - seems to take as much
water as you can give it.
Various garden varieties of purple loosestrife (Lythrum) and yellow
loosestrife (Lysimachia) will grow to 2-3 ft.
Astilbe likes moist - don't know quite how wet it will take it
Meadowsweet - divided lea ves and big frothy clouds of white flowers.

Next, should I improve the soil or just leave it be? It can clearly
support healthy weeds.

Leave it be.

Presumably I will need to make planting holes - but I'm thinking these
will just fill with water. Maybe I should plant in baskets?

No, just plant in the puddles ;-)

Should I edge the area, maybe with rocks or sleepers and/or some
marginal plants?

What is next to it? You could have a nice gradation from boggy to
moisture loving. But if a lawn is next to it, then you'll want a mowing
strip. Could be worth having slabs (york stone or similar) since you'll
want to tend the garden now and again, and slabs will enable you to do
so without getting your knees wet and cold.

And to prevent the weeds returning could I cover with a
weed-suppressing fabric, mulch and/or gravel/slate/shingle?

No - it would be out of keeping with the bog garden look. Once your
chosen plants are well established, other plants will find it hard to
compete.

And finally, the supreme irony: for the one month of the year when this
area dries out, should I add water?

Possibly! Does it get bone dry or merely dry-ish? Natural boggy areas
have changes in water level, so the plants should be able to cope. See
how it goes. If things are wilting, then water.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

That's a great help, Kay... thank you. I will research your plant list.
Do any of these, or others, give me anything in winter or will my bog
garden plants all die back? I imagine a dead bog garden is even less
attractive than a dead border.... although it could hardly be worse
than it is now. It never dries out totally by the way, not even in
August.

It is surrounded on three sides by open lawn which needs to be
tractor-mown and on the fourth by a shrubbery which doesn't need much
attention. I'm vaguely thinking about a matrix of railway sleepers in
the shape of a crossword puzzle which would enable me to tend the bog
garden while also helping it to look intentional.... I guess that the
plants would eventually obscure them anyway.

I _could_ make extra space for some moisture-lovers. The surrounding
lawn always feels a bit spongy. I'm scared of naturalistic planting
though... I'm sure that most of the grass would quickly give up the
fight against advancing marginals....

Simon

In article , Kay
wrote:

In article , Stan The Man
writes
I've given up on trying to rescue a 10 x 8ft area of lawn at the bottom
of my garden. It just wants to stay wet for 11 months of the
year...thanks to my deep Berkshire clay. It had anyway become populated
by boggy weeds so I have decided to let it be a bog garden. I didn't
like the weeds though so I have removed the topsoil, complete with most
of the weeds and roots and what turf there was and I now have a clear,
brown patch with puddles. I would like to beautify a bit while planting
some bog-lovers and would be grateful for advice.

Firstly, I'm all ears for plant recommendations. I want some height
mixed with some colour, but I don't like anything that looks like giant
rhubarb (threw some of that away). I guess I want it to look at least
semi-cultivated/planned rather than some bog gardens that I have seen
which are more or less overgrown with the kind of coarse leaves that
I've just dug up.

Marsh marigold, Caltha palustris - and you can get double flowered
variety - glossy leaves and big buttercup flowers.
Ragged robin - delicate plant with finely divided pink flowers
Primula rosea - rather aggressive pink colour - seems to take as much
water as you can give it.
Various garden varieties of purple loosestrife (Lythrum) and yellow
loosestrife (Lysimachia) will grow to 2-3 ft.
Astilbe likes moist - don't know quite how wet it will take it
Meadowsweet - divided lea ves and big frothy clouds of white flowers.

Next, should I improve the soil or just leave it be? It can clearly
support healthy weeds.

Leave it be.

Presumably I will need to make planting holes - but I'm thinking these
will just fill with water. Maybe I should plant in baskets?

No, just plant in the puddles ;-)

Should I edge the area, maybe with rocks or sleepers and/or some
marginal plants?

What is next to it? You could have a nice gradation from boggy to
moisture loving. But if a lawn is next to it, then you'll want a mowing
strip. Could be worth having slabs (york stone or similar) since you'll
want to tend the garden now and again, and slabs will enable you to do
so without getting your knees wet and cold.

And to prevent the weeds returning could I cover with a
weed-suppressing fabric, mulch and/or gravel/slate/shingle?

No - it would be out of keeping with the bog garden look. Once your
chosen plants are well established, other plants will find it hard to
compete.

And finally, the supreme irony: for the one month of the year when this
area dries out, should I add water?

Possibly! Does it get bone dry or merely dry-ish? Natural boggy areas
have changes in water level, so the plants should be able to cope. See
how it goes. If things are wilting, then water.

"Stan The Man" wrote in message
...
I've given up on trying to rescue a 10 x 8ft area of lawn at the bottom
of my garden. It just wants to stay wet for 11 months of the
year...thanks to my deep Berkshire clay. It had anyway become populated
by boggy weeds so I have decided to let it be a bog garden. I didn't
like the weeds though so I have removed the topsoil, complete with most
of the weeds and roots and what turf there was and I now have a clear,
brown patch with puddles. I would like to beautify a bit while planting
some bog-lovers and would be grateful for advice.

Firstly, I'm all ears for plant recommendations. I want some height
mixed with some colour, but I don't like anything that looks like giant
rhubarb (threw some of that away). I guess I want it to look at least
semi-cultivated/planned rather than some bog gardens that I have seen
which are more or less overgrown with the kind of coarse leaves that
I've just dug up.

Next, should I improve the soil or just leave it be? It can clearly
support healthy weeds.

Presumably I will need to make planting holes - but I'm thinking these
will just fill with water. Maybe I should plant in baskets?

Should I edge the area, maybe with rocks or sleepers and/or some
marginal plants?

And to prevent the weeds returning could I cover with a
weed-suppressing fabric, mulch and/or gravel/slate/shingle?

And finally, the supreme irony: for the one month of the year when this
area dries out, should I add water?

Thanks for any advice.

Simon

Simon if it is of any use to you for an idea, my daughter and son-in-law had
the same problem, so went along with it!!, got a JCB in and made a pond with
an island in the middle and planted that up with trees, bushes and shrubs
etc under sown with bulbs.

Mike

In article , Stan The Man
writes
That's a great help, Kay... thank you. I will research your plant list.
Do any of these, or others, give me anything in winter or will my bog
garden plants all die back?

Ragged robin is still around, as a clump of fresh green leaves. All the
rest die back.
Geum rivale would be OK, and that has leaves in winter - I think it's in
the ancestry of some of the garden geums, so might be worth looking into
those.
Yellow flag iris will still have blade like leaves. My miniscule boggy
bit has cotton grass and a grass with stunning purple flower heads, and
they're still around. The marsh marigold pushes its way through in the
spring.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Stan The Man wrote:
[...]
I'm vaguely thinking about a matrix of railway sleepers in
the shape of a crossword puzzle which would enable me to tend the
bog
garden while also helping it to look intentional.... I guess that
the
plants would eventually obscure them anyway.
[...]

Beware slipperiness, though. Stapling chicken-wire over the sleepers
will give a bit of grip, and is pretty nearly invisible.

Mike.

Simon wrote
I've given up on trying to rescue a 10 x 8ft area of lawn at the bottom
of my garden. It just wants to stay wet for 11 months of the
year...thanks to my deep Berkshire clay. It had anyway become populated
by boggy weeds so I have decided to let it be a bog garden. I didn't
like the weeds though so I have removed the topsoil, complete with most
of the weeds and roots and what turf there was and I now have a clear,
brown patch with puddles. I would like to beautify a bit while planting
some bog-lovers and would be grateful for advice.

Firstly, I'm all ears for plant recommendations. I want some height
mixed with some colour, but I don't like anything that looks like giant
rhubarb (threw some of that away). I guess I want it to look at least
semi-cultivated/planned rather than some bog gardens that I have seen
which are more or less overgrown with the kind of coarse leaves that
I've just dug up.

Firstly, Yellow Iris is a native plant and is a thug, and a none to
attracitve one too. No, go for Iris sibirica and Iris laevigata, both have
beautiful flowers, both like the wet, both have nice leaves in summer and
are non invasive, quality plants. Come in lots of colours too although I
prefer the dark blues of sibirica and the deep purples of laevigata.
Other good looking plants for bog gardens are.......
Zantedeschia aethiopica (depends where you are, grows well here)
Primula prolifera (Candelabra primula)
Osmunda regalis (Royal fern, tall)
Astilbe
Dactylohriza maculata or fushii (probably difficult to find and establish)
Hosta (not if you have lots of slugs and snails)
Polygonum (will spread)
Filipendula

Next, should I improve the soil or just leave it be? It can clearly
support healthy weeds.

Improve it in what way, clay soil is fertile soil. Perhaps mix some good
loam in to break up the top clay layer but no manure or compost or you will
change things.

Presumably I will need to make planting holes - but I'm thinking these
will just fill with water. Maybe I should plant in baskets?

Bog garden plants like bogs, so why are you concerned about holes filling
with water?

Should I edge the area, maybe with rocks or sleepers and/or some
marginal plants?

Up to you, but these ARE marginal plants. :-)

And to prevent the weeds returning could I cover with a
weed-suppressing fabric, mulch and/or gravel/slate/shingle?

Yes, if you want. A mulch would be better as it will allow the plants to
push it aside and spread a bit.

And finally, the supreme irony: for the one month of the year when this
area dries out, should I add water?

Yes, bog plants can't take dry very well.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

"Stan The Man" wrote in message
...
decided to let it be a bog garden........
snipped
Simon

I envy you Simon, I'd love a bog garden, but don't have the space. I'd
especially like a 'giant rhubarb :~))

here's a couple of sites with boggy suggestions:
http://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/beaver/page26.asp
http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/water...og_gardens.htm
http://www.crocus.co.uk/findplant2/boggy/

HTH, Jenny

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 08:14:30 +0100, "JennyC" wrote:


"Stan The Man" wrote in message
...
decided to let it be a bog garden........
snipped
Simon

I envy you Simon, I'd love a bog garden, but don't have the space. I'd
especially like a 'giant rhubarb :~))

here's a couple of sites with boggy suggestions:
http://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/beaver/page26.asp
http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/water...og_gardens.htm
http://www.crocus.co.uk/findplant2/boggy/


and here's a very good place to buy pond and bog plants (no connection
except as satisfied customer, etc):
http://www.bromfieldaquatics.co.uk/store/erol.html


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
bed and breakfast near Ludlow: http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk
Reply To address is spam trap

Stan The Man wrote:
I've given up on trying to rescue a 10 x 8ft area of lawn at the bottom
of my garden. It just wants to stay wet for 11 months of the
year...thanks to my deep Berkshire clay. It had anyway become populated
by boggy weeds so I have decided to let it be a bog garden.

For height some of the aquatic irises should do well in these conditions
though you may need to prevent them drying out completely in midsummer.
Bullrushes also look pretty good if you have the space and can keep them
under control.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Thanks to you all for some excellent advice and recommendations. I will
set about it and report back.

Simon

Magwitch wrote:

Your clock is wrong, you are posting 11 hours into the future.


--

http://www.blueyonder256k.myby.co.uk/

Stan The Man muttered:

That's a great help, Kay... thank you. I will research your plant list.
Do any of these, or others, give me anything in winter or will my bog
garden plants all die back? I imagine a dead bog garden is even less
attractive than a dead border.... although it could hardly be worse
than it is now. It never dries out totally by the way, not even in
August.

I've used these people to stock my pond and bog area... some of the rushes
have very nice seed heads and are still looking good.

https://secure4.worldsites.net/wetla...merchant.ihtml