In reality “problem areas”
have the potential to be the star of your
garden if you take time to understand
the type of soil you are dealing with and
choose the appropriate plants.
Ask yourself if the picture you had in your
mind for this particular area came from a
magazine or a television makeover program.
If so, cast the image aside.
Basically it’s not practical to implement
the ‘minimalist succulent fad’
if this winter you had to swim from the letterbox
to the front door!
Increased rainfall over the past eighteen
months has almost certainly created boggier
areas in the garden. We are very aware that
there are many plants not tolerating these
conditions for example lavenders, Mexican
Orange Blossom and even rhododendrons!
Here we look at the opportunities a boggy
site offers; growing some of nature’s
most beautiful plants.
If your soil has become boggy, go with the
flow. Create a bog garden, a natural water
feature, a pond or even a man-made lake!
Naturally wet areas in your garden provide
the ideal site to use plants that thrive in
damp soil. These are among the most beautiful
and dramatic plants in the garden such as
irises, gunnera, bog primula, astilbes and
hostas not to mention water lilies if the
area lends itself to a pond. In this type
of garden think about using plants in a very
naturalist fashion so the effect is never
static, plants drift and blend into one another.
Use plants with contrasting foliage texture
and shape such as our NZ bog plants - Oioi,
Parataniwha, ground hugging Gunnera prorepens,
and a selection of our gorgeous ferns.
Large areas will need stronger planting with
clumps of the same species together rather
than dotting them around. Keep your planting
scheme simple for impact.
However, areas that are boggy in winter and
spring can often dry out in summer, leaving
the plants suffering in hard cracked soil.
To overcome this, dig the area over and incorporate
plenty of organic matter; compost and sheep
pellets, and gypsum to open up the clay base.
Supplement this with a new product –
Yates Waterwise. This is a combination of
fast acting wetting agents enabling deep watering
of water repellent soils. It also improves
soil structure, adds trace elements and has
seaweed to promote natural plant growth.
Give your bog plants plenty of extra feeding
to help sustain that leafy growth that many
of them produce. Nutrients are quickly diluted
in wet conditions. Use slow release fertilizer
in late spring and again in summer supplemented
by liquid food such as MiracleGro, the biggest
selling plant food in the US.
To develop a boggy area can be a new opportunity
and lots of fun. Remember the golden rule
– right plant right place!
