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Simply Gardening
by Doug Green
Bogged Down... and Loving It!
Part 3

This week, I want to finish off telling you about perennial plants that grow well in damp areas of the garden. You see, next week I’m going to launch off into a new gardening direction so this week’s column is the last on this topic. I have found that I simply can’t fit all the plants I’d like to tell you about into this space - I may have to start a magazine.

One of the highlights every year in my garden is when the Macleaya cordata starts to hit five feet tall. Then visitors notice it stuck in the back of the garden, and when the flower stalks stop growing at 8 feet tall, its place as a garden showstopper is truly launched. The deep heart shaped leaves and whitish flowers (with cream and pink tones) are instantly recognizable. What is also instantly recognizable is its ability to spread. I’m forever digging its shoots out of neighbouring plants but I love it anyway.

The Mimulus family or MonkeyFlowers are wonderful wet land plants with their spotted yellow or red blooms. I’ve grown several of these native flowers and can recommend them all. My favourite (besides the annual forms) is M. alutus; well, maybe because I also like M lewisii. Hard to tell which one I like more - I’ll just keep growing them all.

Be careful if you let any of the Monarda family into a wet spot. They’ll love it to the point of becoming a terrible garden thug. There are some wonderful new colours on the market to practice your plant resisting techniques. I obtained a plant called ‘Raspberry Ripple’ last year and am looking forward to its blooms this summer. And no, I didn’t let it into the bog; instead I’ve kept them in the main garden beds.

Some nurseries will sell you Petasites japonica for your bog garden. Their interesting red shoots in the spring (flowering before the leaves emerge) are quite interesting. I hope you enjoy them because once this plant gets established, you’ll have the devil’s own time getting it out of the garden or controlling it. Big time spreader! There is a variegated leaf form that is slightly more attractive than the species but just as rapacious.

Physostegia is another of the fine blooming plants that will thrive in damp spots. I happen to like this plant although I’m currently trying to dig one variety called ‘Vivid’ out of the main perennial border. The showy pink and violet flower spikes will go very well in wild or naturalized gardens although I personally would keep it out of a bog with fine plants. Most of my varieties are being transferred down to Dug Lake, our large naturalized pond. Physostegia or DragonHead makes a fine cut flower.

It is hard to know where to begin or stop when I think of Primula in the damp garden. There are fewer finer places to grow this plant than in a damp spot in a touch of shade. The vast majority of Primula or Primroses grow best in rich, moist but not sodden, cool soils with a bit of shade from the hot sun. I continue to expand my collection of this plant and can recommend more than I have room for. Easily found, P. denticulata or Drumstick Primula, is an early spring bloomer that will brighten your day with a range of colours - pinks and reds mostly. P. veris is the famed yellow primrose of garden lore and no garden is complete without a huge clump. P. japonica is useful because it blooms for a very long time starting in June and running through July with its tall candelabra type blossoms. You can start these quite easily from seed if you can’t find a specialty nursery in your area. I have written about P. sieboldii before and I can tell you I’m waiting for spring to see what last year’s seeds will do this year in the bloom department. Its hard to know where to stop: P. bulleyana with its orange flowers, P. florindae a huge version of P. veris, P. mollis with its two toned flowers, P. laurentiana with its bright yellow spring greeting or . . . I’ll stop now.

The ornamental Rhubarbs, (Rheum) are quite the bog lovers. I have some seed I’m about to try this year because I lost them last year by not growing them wet enough. You’d think I’d learn by now - some plants just have to have damp soil and this may be one of them. Great huge leaves on this plant will make it a showstopper in my garden if I can ever coax it through a winter.

I want to briefly tell you to find and grow every kind of Rodgersia you can. It has wonderful flowers and wonderful foliage. This is a plant for all seasons. Enough said.

Two years ago, I obtained about ten varieties of Sisyrinchium (Satin Flower or Rush Lily) to play with. These short (6”tall) spike-leaved plants resemble short iris and are simply adorable scattered around the front of the bog garden. I’ve grown mine in different places in the garden but the best results seem to be where the plant can obtain all the moisture it wants.

Tradescantia or SpiderWort is a winner in the damp garden. This plant blooms almost all summer for me when I keep it damp. The minute I let it dry out, it stops blooming. You'’ think there is a message here. Available in several colours - from whites through shades purple and light pink, this is a great 30” tall plant for sun or light shade.

There are others you can grow in your damp garden but these are my favourites. Mind you, I’m sure you have your own - or you will once you build your own bog garden.

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