Scott La Fleur

Horticulture & Botanic Garden Director

Formed millions of years ago from receding glaciers, most of the bogs and vernal pools at Garden in the woods left natural depressions, the perfect environment for plants that like “wet feet.” Not everyone is as lucky as Will Curtis, creator/founder of Garden in the Woods, to have found such beautiful land with magnificent natural features. So what’s a gardener who wants a bog to do? 

Build one! Even here at Garden in the Woods, we augmented our natural bogs with a created cranberry bog using the first method detailed below. Take inspiration from the BIG BUGS exhibit and the “bug-eaters of the bog” at the Garden’s bog displays. Go the “whole hog” at your own garden or try one of these easy shortcuts.

Your basic bog

Select a site in your yard that gets at least five hours of sun daily, preferably on the downward side of your yard to take advantage of natural drainage and rainfall. The bigger and deeper you build the bog the less you will have to worry about it drying out. I recommend at least a 10 foot by 10 foot area dug to 2 and a half to 3 feet deep. Because a deeper bog garden will dry out less, it can accommodate deeper rooted plants such as iris or hibiscus.

• Mark the area to be excavated using water-based spray paint or a garden hose
• The sides should be dug at a slight angle and the bottom should be flat (24 to 36 inches deep)
• Keep a quarter of the soil removed to be reused in the bog soil mix (use the rest elsewhere)
• Line your bog with 4 mil to 8 mil plastic liner. Leave the excess untrimmed until after filling the bog with the soil mix, then trim excess.
• If moles/voles or other tunneling critters are a problem you can line the sides and bottom of your bog with galvanized hardware cloth or a similar rodent barrier
• Fill the bottom 6 inches of your bog with coarse sand (like builders sand, not beach sand!)
• Cut some slits in your plastic liner about one foot down from the top of the hole
• Do not put holes in the bottom
• Fill the remaining area with a quarter native soil, a quarter coarse sand, and half compost
• If you are growing bog specialty plants, you’ll also need to add sphagnum peat moss (see below)
• Fill your bog with water and let it settle
• Cut excess liner from around bog
• Let your bog settle and fill with water several times over the course of a week or two before planting.

Choosing plants and planting the bog

As your bog settles, you’ll have time to read New England Wild Flower Society’s Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers by William Cullina, to help with plant choices, and head over to Garden in the Woods or Nasami Farm in Whately, MA, to pick out your favorites. There are two ways to go about planting your bog. The easiest is to choose plants that like to have “wet feet,” but do not require a special pH level as some specialized bog plants do. The second way is using specialized plants.

Easy does it

 Iris species, Hibiscus moscheutos,  Chelone glabra and C. lyonii,(turtleheads) Lobelia spp.(cardinal flowers) Pycnanthemum spp. (mountain mint), Caltha palustris (marsh marigold), Asclepias incarnata,(swamp milkweed), and others. These plants will attract lots of fascinating insect life. All of these species are easy to grow this way, and can tolerate municipal tap water from the hose.

Bog specialties—a few more steps for extra interest

The more specialized bog plants such as Helonias bullata (swamp pink), Pogonia ophioglossoides (rose pogonia), Sarracenia spp (pitcher plants), and Drosera spp. ( sundews) are adapted to very acidic soil lacking borne microorganisms or worms. To create a bog to grow these special plants add a layer of sphagnum peat moss to the top of the bog. It is also very important to let your bog settle for about a month so the soil pH can stabilize. These specialized bog plants will not like municipal tap water that typically has minerals or chlorine harmful to them. Installing a rain barrel on your downspout is an environmentally sound practice that also provides water storage your bog needs for dry spells.

Bog in a Bucket—make it simple

If all of this seems like too much work, but you still want to enjoy some really cool bog plants like Sarracenia spp. (pitcher plants) or Drosera spp (sundews), take a shortcut to back yard boggin’.

• Find any old tub, whiskey barrel, or unused kiddie pool, place it on the ground in your garden, and fill with the soil mixes mentioned above
• Fill the container with your favorite bog plants and presto—you have a bog!
• This may not have the longevity of a properly designed bog but it will have all the fun

Bog in a Bag

Another quick bog idea starts with a bale of peat moss, and a few easy steps:

• Dig a hole big enough to bury the bale
• Cut the top off, remove half the peat moss and then mix the remaining portion with sand and compost
• Fill with water and let it settle for a couple weeks
• Head off to Garden in the Woods or Nasami Farm and get your plants.
• Plant and and enjoy! This may have a longer life than a bucket bog but will not last a lifetime like a properly designed and planted bog