A blog of my botanical misdeeds and potentially interesting floral photos. All Photos Copyright Ross Kouzes

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This is a blog dedicated to interesting flora and the yard projects I undertake to make their cultivation possible.

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2012/05/19

2012-05-19 New Bog

After the rock wall was finished (dry stack), I dug out and shaped the earth into a trough with a slope that runs down to the end of the rock wall. I used a scrap of pond liner that was left over and covered the rock wall side and bottom of the trench, but left the greenhouse side, which had been painted with tar, open, so that water would drain out on that side and never be permanently stagnant. The Darlingtonia tend to like moving water and the guys at Sarracenia Northwest said that the instant that they punctured a hole in the bottom of their Darlingtonia tub, the plants turned around and improved. The mix is about 2 parts XLP perlite, 1 part small sized orchid bark, 1 part pumice and a 1/2 part peat moss. I plan on mulching over the top of the bog with regular shredded bark after the plants are a little taller: maybe next year. There's a drip irrigation hose with mini-sprayers that will come on every day, and sometimes more as needed.

Planted are all things californica: 4 flats of Darlingtonia californica that have really suffered since last year after being in small pots for too long, 4 pots of Cypripedium californicum and Narthecium californica. All of these are grown from seed I collected from southern Oregon.
Bog01

Photobucket

Just above the bog will go my collection of Lewisias under the eve where they won't get rained on too much during the winter. That's next on the itinerary, but I'll have to get some rocks for them and replace the soil with pumice/perlite (but without a rubber bottom like the bog).

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