Topic: carnivorous plants in a bog garden

[Mark /\]

Hello all. Been thinking of making a pond (maybe 5ft x 3ft) in the back garden with a small bog area. It will only get the sun for just over half the day.

I have bog plants I can use from my other pond but I was thinking of using some carnivorous plants (Pitchers, Venus fly traps or anything else).

Has anybody had any success with growing any of these round their ponds and how easy are they to look after. Cheers

[froglets]

I had some indoor carniverous plants out in my pond last year, just an unnamed pitcher and unnamed sundew ( £1.99 ea from Morrissons I think).  I potted them into clay alpine bowls and sat them in the shallows just a little proud of the water level and they had a great summer, plenty new growth & flowers.  My pond is on partial shade & they seemed perfectly happy, right up until the first really hard frost when they were toast.

Will do something similar this year and see if I can catch them ahead of the cold.

Cheers

[thifasmom]

i put some in my boggy area close to one of my ponds early last autumn. they were plants that had survived two winters outside in pots with no protection whatsoever. when i planted them out last year because of my clay soil i prepared their planting holes by filling the with carnivorous potting compost and planted them into that.

although the winter was a much harsher one than in recent years when i was tidying the area last week (there was a lot of fallen leaves to remove which i believe created a lovely blanket for them) i noticed the pitcher plant still have most of its leaves from last year i would normally remove these mid or late spring but I'm going to play it by ear this year as its their first year in the ground, the Venus fly trap plant had lost all its leaves but i noticed new leaves starting to push up.

i don't plan to do to much maintenance like i said i would normally remove last years leaves in the spring but I'll see if this is needed this year and last year i also split the clumps to make more plants when i was re-potting last spring. i am no carnivorous plant expert so I'll be doing most things by ear and with assistance gathered online.

i think you just have to make sure you get frost hardy ones, I got my venus one from morrisons as well along with a sundew but last spring the sundew was kidnapped by a blackbird for nest building i assume :-\ i couldn't believe my eyes :o. i am hoping to get another sundew one this year which i would put directly into the ground when i get it.

hope this helped,maybe we could all compare notes.

[froglets]

Hmm,  maybe I will wait a bit longer & see if I get any resprout - the pots are  in the storage area round the back of the shed so who knows. Never thought to look. Otherwise, to Morrisons!

[hopalong]

This is interesting.  I always thought that carniverous bog garden plants needed the maximum possible direct sunlight throughout the day. Seems this is wrong. Might give some a try.

[thifasmom]

This is interesting.  I always thought that carnivorous bog garden plants needed the maximum possible direct sunlight throughout the day. Seems this is wrong. Might give some a try.

well mine have always been in direct bright sunlight even in pots and where they are now is in the middle of my garden which is in sun till late evening so hopefully they do well this year and flourish as they are not in pots which i sometimes forgot to leave in standing water :-X ::)

[hopalong]

This is interesting.  I always thought that carnivorous bog garden plants needed the maximum possible direct sunlight throughout the day. Seems this is wrong. Might give some a try.

well mine have always been in direct bright sunlight even in pots and where they are now is in the middle of my garden which is in sun till late evening so hopefully they do well this year and flourish as they are not in pots which i sometimes forgot to leave in standing water :-X ::)

Sounds great.  I was interested in froglets post which suggested they did all right in partial shade.

[Toadspawn]

I have about twelve different Saracenias. They are all in peat in pots and the pots stand in about 2" water at the edge of the pond during late spring/summer/autumn. Although they are apparently hardy down to minus 10C I 'chicken out' and put them in the cold GH overwinter because they cost so much to buy. They have been outside now for the past month and the pots have been standing in water. New growth is just begining to appear and the dead leaves will be removed and the pots replaced in the pond. The are in full sun all day long and catch masses of flies. Absolutely fascinating plants and the flowers are very unusual. Trying to grow some seed this year as a challenge

[Mark /\]

Well it sounds like you all enjoy your carnivorous plants so I think I wil get a few this year.

I had a Venus Fly Trap years ago and used to catch insects for it to see it in action. then I went on holiday and my dad forgot to water it and when I got back it was dead. :(

So it looks like I will have to keep my eyes open at morrisons then Lol. ;D