Re: shade/bog gardening

Melody,
I don't know anything about bogs -  Marge or others will reply on that.
When you say the area floods, how long does the water stand?  I had a
problem like that, with no place to run the water to.  So instead of a bog,
I dug a drywell - actually 2 of them, one at each back corner of the house
where the downspouts release.  They are about 4x4x4 ft. One is filled with
broken pots and rebar, the other with a coiled, flexible drainage hose.
These handle the water until it can be dispersed by natural drainage.

I'm curious - how do lilacs survive in a heavily shaded area?

Kitty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Melody" <mhobertm@excite.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 4:06 AM
Subject: [CHAT] shade/bog gardening


> Dear all: I need help for a friend's yard...It is his mother's house
> which now that she has retired and moved south, he has
> "inherited"...with one giant problem...Mom was a huge gardener and he is
> not. So now he is faced with the upkeep of an extensive shade garden
> collection that he neither knows nor really cares about, but to keep his
> mom happy when she visits every so often, he would like to do something
> with it while simplifying the work. She was really into hostas in a big
> way and they are everywhere. Also tons and tons of lily of the valley
> that are spreading like wildfire, even where he doesn't want them
> (Kitty...who knew? Sorry!) So, I've agreed to help him revamp all of
> those things, but our biggest problem proves to be one of drainage...he
> has an area in his yard to which he runs a drainage pipe for rainwater
> from his roof that in heavy rains, runs across his yard and floods his
> neighbors yard in the corner where the two meet...It's a heavily shaded
> area that contains mostly a beautiful collection of lilac trees, a few
> hosta and lily of the valley...would the creation of a boggy area there
> with cinder block and plastic liner a) be enough to contain the water so
> it doesn't flood the neighbors and b) be damaging to the lilacs in any
> way? Also, what would one put in a boggy area like that?
>
>
>
> Melody, IA (Z 5/4)
>
> "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."
> --Albert Einstein
>
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