I have posted before on the various iterations of the small bog garden we keep on the patio. The original bog garden (2020) was literally in a bog and populated mainly with pitcher plants.
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| Photo 1: Pitcher Plants in the Bog Garden (2021) |
The problem with this arrangement was two-fold: maintaining a damp environment and protecting the plants from severe cold weather. The pitcher plants were transferred to a plastic container which had the advantage of being transportable and so could be moved to a more sheltered position (e.g. polytunnel or greenhouse) in winter. The black plastic plant pot was filled with water to maintain boggy soil conditions. In all our bog gardens we used coir as the growing medium - using peat was, for us, a complete no-no.
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| Photo 2: Temporary Bog Garden (2022) |
A Venus Fly Trap was added to the temporary bog garden in July 2022 ...
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| Photo 3: Venus Fly Trap & Pitcher Plants in Bog Garden |
... and flowered in August 2022 ...
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| Photo 4: Flowering Venus Fly Trap (August 2022) |
Regrettably, allowing the Venus fly trap to flower signed its death certificate and it died back never to appear again. It is recommended by those in the know to remove all flowering stalks as they appear. We learned the hard way!
At the same time as establishing the new bog garden (Photo 2), we also set up a non-carnivorous bog garden using a Greenhouse Sensation Veg/Salad Planter. You can read about it here but the big plus factor in using a Veg/Salad Planter was the 20L water reservoir under the planting medium, to minimise the chances of the coir growing medium drying out, and the ability to add a mini-greenhouse for extra protection against severe frost.
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| Photo 5: Bog Garden for Non-carnivorous Plants (2022) |
Sadly, the non-carnivorous bog garden did not survive the winter of 2023/24 so the Veg/Salad Planter was re-purposed as a carnivorous bog garden in 2024. We added a sundew plant bought at the
Malvern Spring Show in May 2024.
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| Photo 6: Carnivorous Bog Garden (May 2024) |
Things were pretty quiet in the bog garden over the summer and winter. The arrival of Spring 2025 awakened the carnivorous plants (Photo 7) although the pitcher plants did not look too clever.
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| Photo 7: Carnivorous Bog Garden (March 2025) |
The sundew, however, looked in tiptop condition (
Photo 8) ...
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| Photo 8: Sundew in the Bog Garden (March 2025) |
By mid-May, the sundew had put on a growth spurt ...
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| Photo 9: Sundew, Bog Garden (15th May 2025) |
... and even the pitcher plants had sprung into life ...
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| Photo 10: Pitcher Plant, Bog Garden (15th May 2025) |
Towards the end of May, the sundew had sent up a flower stalk ...
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| Photo 11: Flowering Sundew, Bog Garden (25th May 2025) |
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| Photo 12: Close-up of Sundew Flower Stalk (25th May 2025) |
At this point you start consider whether or not it is a good thing to let the sundew plant flower. After all, it didn't go too well for the Venus Fly Trap! While some naysayers on the internet warned against letting the sundew burst forth, the majority said it should be fine as the sundew was not as 'delicate' as the Venus Fly Trap.
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| Photo 14: Erect, Multiple Flower Stalks on the Sundew (10th June 2025) |
A week later (17
th June) and there were a multiple flower-bearing stalks with some of them very close to opening (
Photo 15) ...
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| Photo 15: Sundew Almost Ready to Flower (17th June 2025) |
The following day (18th June), the flowers started to open ...
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| Photo 16: Sundew Flowers Starting to Open (18th June 2025) |
A simple delicate and rather pretty flower ...
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| Photo 17: The Sundew Flower (19th June 2025) |
... which still requires pollination ...
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| Photo 18: Beetle Pollinating Sundew Flower (24th June 2025) |
One or two weeks later still, the sundew was at peak blooming time and as beautiful as any garden flower. The pitcher plants had also recovered well thankfully ...
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| Photo 19: Peak Blooming Time (2nd July 2025) |
There were a lot of flowers so we waited nervelessly to see if it would impact the vitality of the plant.
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| Photo 20: Floriferous Sundew (2nd July 2025) |
I took the next photo on 28th Aug 2025 and, while the sundew was a little subdued, there was still time for it to recover before winter sets in.
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| Photo 21: Bog Garden (28th August 2025) |
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