Once the bright yellow, foul-smelling (they smell like cat urine) flowers come into bloom, they will put on a good show: The buds are approximately 2 inches (5 cm) tall: Here is a shot of the budding Sarracenia flava var. Here are a couple of views of the completed project: Once measured and trimmed to size, I drilled a hole at either end and drove 12-inch (30-cm) spikes through the holes to secure the timbers to the ground. It required cutting them to size (the bog garden is more or less 10 feet (3 meters) by 3 feet (1 meter). The final part of the process was to replace the rotted landscaping timbers with fresh ones. It really does not belong in the natural system of Southeastern pitcher plants, but I thought it would add a pleasing touch to the bog garden. Yep, that’s a smooth river rock that I placed there when I built the bog garden 10 years ago. I believe you will be able to see the green, wire frames which I put there above the larger, more robust pitcher plant groups to support the pitchers as they grow. It took me almost four hours to complete the trim and haul away the clippings. Yeah, I admit that it looks rather sad in this winter, dormant stage. The pitcher plants are a variety of Sarracenia species native to the Southeast as well as a hybrid or two. That compact, bushy plant in the lower right is a Xyris or Yellow-eyed Grass species. Here are a couple of close-ups of portions of the bog garden showing the dense nature of some of the pitcher plants: Perhaps I’ll burn and scatter the refuse next year. So, another year goes by without replenishing the minerals and nutrients. I’m guessing the smoke created by burning the pitchers would not be welcome in the neighborhood and may bring on the wrath of the open-fire police. However, there is a city ordinance which prohibits open fires… Drats! I’ve thought of burning the refuse in my charcoal grill, then scattering the ashes on the garden, but I’ve yet to do this. Under ideal conditions, burning the bog garden should take just a few minutes and would be safe to conduct in the front yard. In addition, it adds minerals and nutrients via the burning. This burning removes the dead pitchers and opens the area up to sunshine. In nature, the plants grow with savannah grasses which are burned periodically for the purpose of woody plant removal. Here is where I should add that I really wanted to burn the garden. So I set up a tarp next to the landscape timbers and opened a garbage bag for the trimmings. Last year’s pitcher growth was quite dense, and required slow going when trimming close to the growth points. Here are two views of how the bog garden appeared just before I began Spring maintenance: This has happened to me in the past, so I am vigilant in my awareness of weather forecasts.
A late cold snap has the ability to seriously damage the tender buds.
The main consideration for waiting until the last-minute is the danger of late frosts. Because I needed to trim the old, dead pitchers, I didn’t want to have to trim around taller buds and perhaps damage them. Normally, I wait until early March, but when I checked on it a few days ago, I noticed that some of my pitcher plants were already sending up buds. With Spring approaching but not yet here, I figured it was time to think about Spring-cleaning my front yard bog garden.