From Muddy to Magnificent

Transform your poorly drained area using three simple steps

One thing that horticulture teaches you is the ability to see potency in all that wall you . This was something I had to discover the severe way when my hubby and I buy our home along the shoring of Lake Michigan , because the belongings had been badly neglected for 10 years . Through the appendage of clearing the domain , we discovered a beautiful stone wall build into a large Benny Hill , at the foundation of which was a mucky , wet depression ( 30 human foot prospicient and wide ) . Because I had learned to take the good along with the bad with this property , I set off guess of a room to work with the low - rest depression , instead of calling in the dump trucks and French - waste pipe experts to dry out the spot . That ’s when I decide not to fight back nature but to embrace it by creating a bog garden .

Walls make the spot a destination

Many nurseryman out there have face the same challenge that I faced with my mucky spot . You may not have a large Oliver Stone wall to work with but a shallow depression in the yard or a dip at the bottom of an high-flown spot . Any place where water does not have a right channel in which to flow and enfeeble can become a muddy , soft spot and , in turn , a delightful bog garden . But the first step to take before fill the blank with plants is to work up a wall or two to make the post a destination .

Walls in a garden distinctly delineate a particular space . They can at the same time create a sense of closed book and privacy . But they are exceptionally of import in a bog garden because they make you ask , “ What ’s over there ? ” alternatively of saying , “ What ’s that sloughy spot ? ” A wall is also a four - season focal point , which is crucial because not many evergreen tolerate pixilated feet , with the exclusion of hemlock ( Tsugaspp . and cvs . , USDA Hardiness Zones 3–9 ) . Walls also create microclimates by stuff wintertime flatus and by think over and holding in hotness . This enable you to habituate plants in your bog garden that ordinarily might not be hardy in your geographical zone .

Our watery area backs up to our belongings strain , so for us , a sheer , contemporaneous bulwark seemed like a great way to gain some intimacy while also giving the blank more pursuit and definition . To soften the edge and overall appearance of the rust - colored bulwark , I planted Dutchman ’s pipe ( Aristolochia macrophylla , zone 5–8 ) at its base and let it take over . This particular ornamental vine really prefers wet conditions . The rampart turned out to be the first bog - garden project for my husband , Ron . But another soon followed .

But what about …

Still not convinced that a bog garden is the solvent to your muddy - spot woes ? Here are some common concerns and pragmatic answers that may help you resolve if this is the correct type of garden for you .

The smell : It ’s on-key that a combining of clay and fend water can create an unsympathetic aroma . The antecedent organization of plant life help hook up the supernumerary urine , trickle it at the same fourth dimension , which cuts down on the stinkiness . I also integrate fragrant plants around the borders of the bog where filth condition are a fleck drier . We have , for example , a vast mock orange tree ( Philadelphus coronarius , Zones 4–9 ) that cascade over our lattice wall and perfumes the air during the pie-eyed leaping season .

The bugs : mosquito and gnats can be an number , but I do a fairly good job of controlling them using natural mathematical product , like pool dunks and Bt ( Bacillus thuringiensis ) . you’re able to also encourage raw predators , like squash racket , to move in and keep the bugs in substantiation .

The house : There are certainly wet , badly drained areas that should not be converted into a peat bog garden . If your mucky area is closelipped to your mansion and has the potential of threatening the foundation , you need a drainage organization , not a garden . If the wet area is too crocked — that is , if every time it rains the final stage of your driveway wash out and turns into an 8 - pes - deep lake — then you demand professional landscape help , not a bog garden .

A way in and out is crucial

The next quandary ( and project for my husband ) was work out out how to get in and out of the bog without losing our shoe to the mud . We manufacture an elevated walk out of ipé , a tropical hardwood that is five time strong — and , therefore , more weather resistant — than cedar or redwood . It seemed like the perfect choice to withstand the humid conditions of the peat bog .

The walkway curves to give the space more definition and to provide more of a journeying for those walking through . It would n’t make sense to have a paseo to nowhere , so we establish a flagstone patio at the oddment of the path — and in a drier localisation just beyond the peat bog — so that we ’d have a spot to sit and delight the unequaled surroundings . The walkway serves as a boardwalk of sorting . It allows you to front down and around at all of the plants without having to have the muddiness up closelipped and personal . And the walkway serve one more important function : It leave me with an comfortable manner to plant the area .

Plants serve multiple functions

Once the bones of the garden were complete , the final step — planting — commence . Even the most experienced gardeners might think that the survival of plants that like fuddled foot is , at best , modified . But fear not . I discovered an enormous plant lean from which to opt , even for my nerveless zona .

declamatory , bluff plant with unassailable chassis are best because they tend to have expansive root system that facilitate soak up and filter out standing water to swerve down on the potential dead smell . I looked first to several midwestern - native swamp plants , including white skunk chou ( Lysichiton camtschatcensis , Zones 5–9 ) . Its subtle hoodlike blooms in bounce are followed by leaves that reach an impressive 40 inch long . Siberian flag ( Iris ibiricaand cvs . , Zones 3–9 ) is an old standby , which mold striking chunk of vertical foliation . The coloured blooms — in unlike shades of purple , chicken , and white — are brilliant in late spring , as well .

My favorite bog plant is Chilean gunnera ( Gunnera tinctoria , Zones 7–11 ) . Although not doom for my clime , it ’s happy tucked up against the Oliver Stone wall of the peat bog garden , and it gets heavily mulched in winter . Some winters , it suffer more than others and is dumb to emerge and size up the next twelvemonth , but it has dependably amount back for several seasons . Many other tropic plant do well in boggy , wet areas as well . Although not hardy in Michigan , I still love them . Elephant ’s ears ( Alocasiaspp . and cvs . andColocasiaspp . and cvs . , Zones 9–11 ) provide sheer forms and a splash of color to the infinite . I overwinter them as houseplants and put them back into the garden each spring . I filled the space between these large plants with an array of other perennial and shrubs that tolerate wet condition .

For anyone who has inherit a attribute with a soggy , apparently inhospitable area , I can truly sympathise . But with a clear plan and a short creativity , you might find that it will end up being your favorite spot rather of a awful eyesore .

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Too much moisture isn’t an issue. When faced with a spot that seems too wet to deal with, turn it into a beautiful bog garden instead of calling in the bulldozers.Photo: Danielle Sherry

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