How To Grow Native Bog Plants
The most captivating and sought-after bog plants are certainly the carnivorous species. The native Venus’ flytrap, Temperate Pitcher Plants, Sundews, and Butterworts are beautiful and fascinating for young and old alike. There are also a number of other beautiful and fascinating bog plants that provide wonderful color and texture that may be grown alone or together in the same conditions with the carnivorous species. Together, they can be a beautiful and unique attraction in your outdoor garden.
Bog plants are also very easy to grow, but are simply often misunderstood by the “uninitiated”. How often we hear this sad statement, or something like it: “I tried growing a venus flytrap once, but it died. They are really hard to care for!”. This is simply not true, but you may have been led down the wrong path by the poor care instructions so often offered with plants sold at retail stores. With a handful of basic rules in mind, the venus’ flytrap, pitcher plants, and other perennial bog plants can be easy and rewarding for years to come.
NOT From a Steamy Jungle…but temperate boggy pine forests.
As mentioned, some of the most captivating bog plants include the many native carnivorous plants. When considering something as bizarre as a plant that captures and digests insects, many people assume that such a plant surely must come from some hot steamy jungle in the tropics. The truth is, the southeastern United states is actually a worldwide hot spot of diversity for many species of carnivorous plants.
The venus flytrap naturally occurs only in the Carolinas, and the several pitcher plant species ranging all the way from Canada and south to Florida. In contrast, the habitats some might expect to find more carnivorous plants, like the wet and shady Amazon or Congo rainforests, are largely devoid of them. This is essential to understanding how to grow them. You need to imitate the conditions of an open, sunny and wet southeastern acid bog.
Garden Site
Do not plant in the ground. These plants have specific soil requirements and most of the people don’t have a right soil chemistry - even if you had a wet spot. We recommend that you keep bog plants as potted plants and place saucers under pots with 1-2” of water.
You can also create a bog garden if that’s in your interest.
Provide Full Direct Sun for a minimum of 6 hours daily (Keep outdoors. No terrariums!) Place in the sunniest spot on your yard.
Soil
Use low nutrient, acidic soil, such as 50/50 peat moss/ silica sand. You can also you perlite. Make sure all soil ingredients are free of fertilizer. Never regular potting soil! Don’t fertilize!
Keep wet at all times with low mineral water (rain, distilled, or reverse osmosis). Never let dry out. The bog plants can in the worst case die at first try if you let them do bone dry
Winter Care
Cold winter dormancy required, usually a three month minimum.
Keep the plants sheltered from very cold temperatures. Especially if grown in pots making the roots more exposed to cold. Cover with tarp if temperatures go below 25F.
Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
Venus Flytrap is no doubt the most famous of the carnivorous plants. Few know that they are actually native to US! Their native range is about 100 miles around Wilmington, NC. Venus Flytrap is an endangered species which cannot be legally collected from the wild. It is also listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
This plant has evolved triggers hairs inside a bear trap looking leaf structure. Once an insect lands on the trap it needs to touch two different trigger hairs within 30 seconds before the trap closes. Yes, this plant can count if you want say! Traps can grow to be an inch long but that’s the limit. The bristles won’t hurt humans if they poke their finger into one of the traps. By the way this is very discouraged as trapping mechanism takes a lot of energy and constant poking will hurt your Venus Flytrap.
Flytraps are extremely easy to grow as long as you don’t treat is as a normal house plant. It does not belong inside. It’s a full sun plant. Also, you never want your flytrap to dry out. The plants bloom early summer with beautiful white blooms and develop shiny poppy like seeds in fall.
GARDEN SITE: Full Sun. Sandy, acidic Acid (<6.0) soil. Frequent Standing Water to Occasionally Wet soil.
SIZE: with a flower stalk 1 ft. without about 1 in. Spread 5-6 in.
FLOWERS: White blooms May to June.
WILDLIFE: Attracts and catches many insects
ZONE: 5-8
North American Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia)
To a surprise to many, Sarracenia are marvelous USA native plants that are hardy and easy to grow once you know the basic (easy) principles which applies to all these bog plants on this page.
Like Irises and Not
Sarracenia grow like irises forming long rhizomes over time. They are slow growing and a decent clump can take 5-10 or so years to form depending on the conditions. The plants propagate by seed or rhizome divisions.
In the spring the earliest growth emerges as flower buds that will open up yellow, red, pick, white, depending on the species or parent species if the plant is a hybrid. With the flowers come the first leaves. The leaves are ornamental, upright tubes with operculums (also called “lids”) that prevent rain from entering the pitcher mouth and also secretes nectar that attracts flies and other insects. The lid won’t close.
Growth styles
Depending on the species, Sarracenia pitcher plants have distinctive growth spurts unless the plant is a hybrid. Some species, like the Yellow Pitcher plant, emerges quickly in the spring and makes lots of pitchers whereas other species like the white-top pitcher plant produces relatively small pitchers in spring but reward the grower with big and bold fall pitchers.
Can you grow pitcher plants in a “wet spot”?
There is less than 2% left of the natural pitcher plant habitat in the southeast US due to logging and draining of wetlands. They are very rare in the wild as they require specific soil and hydrology to take place. Many times when people say they have seen a pitcher plant in their yard it appears to be Jack-In-The-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) not Sarracenia. The biggest difference of these, sort of similar looking plants is the habitat they grow.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit prefers: Full Shade, Fertile and Acidic to Neutral Soil (pH<6.8) soil. Sarracenia pitcher plant prefers: Full Sun, Low-nutrient and Acidic soil ( pH 3-5).
The genus SARRACENIA comprises 11 species of which 3 are endangered:
Sarracenia alata Pale Pitcher Plant
Sarracenia flava Yellow Pitcher Plant
Sarracenia leucophylla White Top Pitcher Plant
Sarracenia minor Hooded Pitcher Plant
Sarracenia psittacina Parrot Pitcher Plant
Sarracenia purpurea Purple Pitcher Plant
Sarracenia rosea Burk's southern Pitcher plant
Sarracenia rubra Sweet Pitcher Plant
Endangered species:
Sarracenia alabamensis
Sarracenia jonesii
Sarracenia oreophila
GARDEN SITE: Full Sun. Sandy, acidic Acid (<6.0) soil. Frequent Standing Water to Occasionally Wet soil.
SIZE: Depends on the species/hybrid. Generally 9 inches to 3 ft.
FLOWERS: Depends on the species/hybrid. Blooming time April-May
WILDLIFE: Attracts insects, frogs, dragonflies etc. other fauna. Catches insects.
ZONE: 5-8
Sundews (Drosera)
Sundews get their name from the glistening dew that’s in the tip every single hairs on their leaves. These dew drops are called “mucilage” and they trap small insects that mistake the dew for nectar or water. The tentacles and for some species, the whole leaf wrap around the pray.
They are very easy to grow. They need full sun, moist to wet, acidic soil and they feed themselves very well. In late fall-early winter they form a structure hibernacula which protects them through winter.
There are many sundew species around the world, actually almost 200. US native sundews consist of 8 species. Some are distributed in southern areas and others are native to for example Michigan, northern and colder regions.
Drosera anglica Great Sundew
Drosera brevifolia Dwarf Sundew
Drosera capillaris Pink Sundew
Drosera filiformis Thread-leaf Sundew
Drosera intermedia Spoonleaf Sundew
Drosera linearis Slenderleaf sundew
Drosera rotundifolia Roundleaf sundew
Drosera tracyi Tracy's sundew
GARDEN SITE: Full Sun. Sandy, acidic Acid (<6.0) soil. Frequent Standing Water to Occasionally Wet soil.
SIZE: Depends on the species. From 1 in wide (D. brevifolia) to 10 in tall (D. tracyi).
FLOWERS: Color and size depends on the species. Generally blooms May-June.
WILDLIFE: Catches a lot of insects.
ZONE: 5-8
Non-Carnivorous Bog Associate Wildflowers
Meadow Beauties (Rhexia mariana, Rhexia virginica)
Also called “Handsome Harries” and “Meadow Pitchers”. Both of the species we will be offering have beautiful purple blooms, interesting shaped bright yellow anthers and nice upright growing habit. Both provide color and contrast for example for bogs and pond edges
The dried flower stalks present ornamental seed pods that look like vases and can be preserved. Flowers are primarily pollinated by bumblebees. Because the fruits are hairy, they may attach themselves to the passing animals, thereby distributing the seeds. Seed pods turn red in fall and persist through winter.
Maryland Meadow Beauty (Rhexia mariana)
Delicate looking, round upright stems. White to pale pink blooms. Spreads by suckers but is easy to weed if necessary. Up to 2ft tall.
Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica)
Strong Purple/Pink blooms. More of a rosetted growth habit. Has square stems. Does not sucker like R. mariana but reseeding itself. Grows occasionally 3ft tall.
GARDEN SITE: Full Sun to Part Shade. Wet to moist conditions, acidic (<6.0) sandy soil.
SIZE: 1-3 ft. tall, spread 1-2 ft.
FLOWERS: Pink/Purple, 1-2 inch blooms May - October
WILDLIFE: Attracts Bees and Butterflies.
ZONE: 3-7
Yellow Eyed Grasses (Xyris sp.)
This perennial or biennial bog plant brings charming, small, yellow flower from spring through fall. They normally grow in bunches or colonies that wave in the windand blend well with any type of pitcher plants.
The plants seed readily but will not over crowd other plants. The seedlings are easy to weed if you desire. Xyris species can be short lived thus we recommend that you let the plants self seed so you will have this plant also in the future.
The green leaves turn a rusty red in the Fall.
There are over 250 species of Xyris and identification of the individual plants is not always easy.
GARDEN SITE: Full Sun to Partial Sun. Capable of growing in a variety of soils that are low in nutrients /acidic and that stay constantly moist.
SIZE: Foliage up to 15 in, flower stalks up to 20 in
FLOWERS: Bright Yellow flowers Spring to Fall
WILDLIFE: Attracts small pollinators
ZONE: 2-8
Orange Milkwort (Polygala lutea)
Orange milkwort is native to wet sandy soil, swamps and pine-barren depressions in costal areas of the southern and eastern the United States. It grows 3-7 inches tall.
Compact, pinecone-shaped orange flowers are produced from April to October and they add a great splash of bright color if planted among Sarracenia. The other suitable name for this charming associate plant could be then “bog cheetos”. This milkwort differentiates from the most of the milkworts as the flowers are orange, not typical pinkinsh pinkish, yellow, or white. Orange milkwort can be an annual or biennial, or perennial depending on the temperature conditions as it have a big native rang from Florida to northern states.
Did you know? The species name, lutea, means yellow because when the blooms are dried they turn yellow. Linnaeus who described the plant saw the yellow blooms as he named it from dried specimens.
GARDEN SITE: Full Sun to Part Shade. Sandy, acidic Acid (<6.0) soil. Frequent Standing Water to Occasionally Wet soil.
SIZE: 3-7 in. Spread: 2-4 in.
FLOWERS: Brilliant Orange flowers April- October.
WILDLIFE: Attracts many pollinators
ZONE: 5-9
Grass Pink Orchid (Calopogon tuberosus)
This bright pink blooming native orchid is a stunning bog companion plant. It grows 8 - 21 inches tall with a little spread. The blooms appear May-June and are gorgeous 1-2 inches wide, with yellow specks and an interesting shape. Bees with sufficient weight act as the pollinators.
Needs full sun and consistent wet conditions like the rest of the bog plants. Suitable for bog gardens but also for other wet areas as it is not as strictly demanding when it comes to soil acidity. It the wild this species grows also in wet areas of meadows and coniferous swamps.
If given the right care and conditions, this orchid should be one of the easiest native terrestrial orchids to grow.
Did you know?
Calopogon, the genus name, comes from the Greek kalos and means "beautiful" and pogon means "beard", referring to the yellow, stamen-like hairs at the top of the flower.
GARDEN SITE: Full Sun. Sandy, acidic Acid (<6.0) soil. Frequent Standing Water to Occasionally Wet soil.
SIZE: 8-20 in. Spread 1 – 2½ft.
FLOWERS: Bright Pink May-June
WILDLIFE: Attracts Bees
ZONE: 3-9
