Bog Gardens in Bergen County
Landscaping in Bergen County
Come on now, when you hear the word “BOG” what do you think of? The Creature from the Black Lagoon? Basset hounds baying in some long forgotten “sherlock holmes” movie. Bright flowers, spires of reeds and plumes, dramatic foliage and textures are a far cry 
from what many of us think of when we envision a bog. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
A bog garden is essentially a water garden and hybrid flowerbed rolled up into one. Herein lies an opportunity to grow beautiful butterfly flowers, corkscrew rushes, elephants ear and bloody dock as well as other plants that are quite content when their toes are wet and their legs are NOT.
Bog gardens are best suited to areas of water retention that will almost always be wet. This need not be a steady standing water, but many and most bog plants will not thrive unless their roots are wet and have access to near-constant moisture. This is an entirely different concept than a “rain garden” which is designed to handle brief inundations after a downpour and then nearly dry out. You can set bog plants directly into the ground or even in terra cotta pots that allows moisture to reach the roots but keeps invasive plants in check. Try several combinations of the plants listed here that are suitable for bog gardens.
Cardinal Flower
Typha_latifolia-cattail
cheylone lyonii – turtlehead
Sedge
Swamp Milkweed
Pink Wood Sorrel
almost PERFECT Landscaping specializes in those special areas that are troublesome to many. Wet depressions within a property’s area being one of them and often a “bog garden” is the answer. There are certain criteria that are to be considered when implementing such a garden design.
1 – Start with the structure – Every garden bed needs some sort of vertical structure be it tall and towering or short and spiky. The genus of plants Cyperusoffers excellent selections for structure with umbrella palms to 4 to 6 ft. Then there is papyrus c.papyrus that goes to 5ft. There are dwarf species that can only grow a foot high to consider.
2 – The foliage plants offer excellent container areas for other plantings. Elephant ears with their foliage and wafting ears in the wind provide excellent leaf, texture, colour and foliage. They don’t however winter over in our area so heavy mulching is needed if you want to try to overwinter them.
3 – Accent the bog with flowers many of which are native to our area. Cardinal flowers which draw in the hummingbirds and butterflies (see image). Swamp Milkweed is another beautiful addition you can utilize.
4 – Top it off with groundcovers – These will help prevent erosion, hid the mud and preserve soil moisture for other bog plants. Try moneyword which spread across boogy soil and shallow water and is almost constantly in bloom with white flowers.
Need help – Call A. P. L. N. J. at 201-389-6979. We’d be happy to help you.
