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applestar
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What kind of bog plants are you growing?

My gardening projects are compartmentalized and sometimes a project kind of gets set aside and neglected in favor of others.

One such project is my rain garden bog garden supplied by the East corner downspout of the main roof rain gutter. The location is shaded in the morning while the sun rises behind neighboring houses and trees, so mid-morning sun until the house shadow casts shade around 1pm through sunset. A little more during the summer since the sun rises earlier and further north of east, crosses a gap in houses and trees, and then climbs higher in the sky enough to clear the treetops earlier.

Last year, I think all I did was clear the winter dead, then the self seeded jewelweed volunteers took over completely. :oops: Taller growing things like milkweeds and cardinal flowers grew on their own, as did the shrubs... And the jewelweed popped and scattered their seeds to their hearts content in fall. :roll:

This year, I decided to pay a little more attention, got rid of a 3 years growth of poison ivy which was preventing me from getting in there to really weed, then systematically cleared the solid growths of jewelweed volunteers away from desirable plants. (I put them all back down on the ground as mulch.)

I discovered a lot of self seeded cardinal flowers and to my surprise, I doesn't look like any plant got completely overwhelmed.

This arum was starting to bloom under all that jewelweed:
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Other plants I have in the bog garden are button bush (cephalanthus occidentalis), summer sweet (clethra alnifolia), swamp milkweed, cardinal flower (lobelia cardinalis), great blue lobelia (lobelia siphilitica) and purple pitcher plant. On slightly higher ground are Indian pink, summer phlox, Turks cap lily (ilium superbum), soft rush (Junius effusus), common milkweed, and ostrich fern.

Across a path of randomly placed brick step stones the soil is still wet but not so boggy and there is somewhat greater sun exposure. And here I have a wildflower bed of golden Alexander, swamp milkweed that volunteered, monarda didyma Jacob Klein (scarlet red), and more common milkweed. I'm working on expanding the varieties in that bed and also, this spring, expanded the bed itself all the way to the fence border where it is more dry and shady, linking it to the Native Shade Garden.

There is a clump of flowers growing near the milkweed that I don't know the ID for. I think it *might* be hummingbird ipomopsis, but that is a South American native. This one comes back every year on its own and appears to be a perennial. I'll take pictures when it blooms and ask for help in ID.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Hmm... I was looking over plant descriptions and American wild ginger actually likes moist soil. I have it growing rather slowly in a dry part of my shade garden. ...maybe it's grown enough that
I could divide a small piece to be the ground cover for the rain garden bog garden area and hopefully supress the jewelweed.

I have another bog garden where I'm growing male and female winterberry shrubs, Virginia sweetspire, iris versicolor, royal fern, white turtlehead, more cardinal flower, marshmallow (hibiscus moscheutos), and slightly higher up common orange ditch daylilies and Joe-Pye weed. The arum in this bog was suffering due to drought in previous years, but it seems to be coming back. There is supposed to be another purple pitcher here but it's never been very happy in this full sun location.

The bog here is designed to overflow into a swale that runs under the fence and along the front yard edible landscaping fence row. I have white turtleheads on the other side of the fence, more cardinal flower, monarda didyma Jacob Klein (scarlet red), red osier dogwood, and Husker red penstemon. The swale provides extra moisture for three still young pawpaw trees as well as a bird-sown elderberry shrub that I'm allowing to stay because it provides some needed shade for the young pawpaws.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I dug a bog garden in the far corner to capture the rainwater from the neighbor's downspout because the previous owner landscaped his yard to basically pipe everything to our side of the property line and that area was constantly soggy. You can see the pink Joe Pye weed starting to bloom. Other plants enjoying the extra moisture include Blue flag iris, Arum, Virginia sweetspire, Royal fern, White turtlehead, Winterberry, Cardinal flower, Ditch Daylily, and. Marshmallow hibiscus. The bog exits under the fence to the front yard. Across the spillway, the first fruit tree in the espalier fence row is a Prok persimmon.
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A red osier dogwood on the other side of the fence looks very nice against the white picket fence, and most of the smaller bog flowers are grouped there along with a Husker Red Penstemmon and a tiny struggling blueberry. A swale directs the bog water to the base of my triple PawPaw planting dubbed "Paw and Paw and Baby Paw" and a developing clump of Elderberry.

I have another RainBog Garden at the base of one of our main roof rain gutter downspouts. A rainbarrel collects the water then double overflow hoses direct the rainwater here and to the "Ostrich Fern Alley." Top-right photo is my little patch of wildflowers across a little brick path from the RainBog Garden.
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This water-loving Buttonbush is situated next to the rainbarrel overflow. The bees love the pompom blossoms.
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applestar
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Tiger Swallowtail enjoying the Phlox
Tiger Swallowtail enjoying the Phlox
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Cardinal Flower and Summer Sweet
Cardinal Flower and Summer Sweet

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

At this time of the year, the "patch of Wildflowers" burst into bloom with Golden Alexanders :D
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