Favorite Bog Filter Plants and Winter Hardy Plants?

[Bromeliad]

The more I read about bog filters, the more I like them! I think I am going to try and make one.

Two questions:

1) What are your favorite bog filter plants? What has worked especially well for you?

2) What are your favorite winter hardy pond species (for both pond and bog)? What are some plants that will reliably return after winter?
I am in zone 8b/9a

 

[Denise T]

For the bog I like canna lilly, society garlic, iris, creeping jenny, mimosa, to name a few.

 

[mrsclem]

Day lilies, water celery, water mint for bog.

 

[MajorDan]

Based on my experience, the first year, the bog does not work very well because the plants just are not established. My first year, the water stayed green until the very end of the season. Got clear then and has stayed clear since. I tried problably 20 or more plants. Some just did not thrive and others took off. At the end of last year my bog still looked more like a desert with the surviving plants scattered around. At the start of this year, I added another 10 plants including water celery and 3 different arrowheads, 4 leaf water clover, and a spider lily. Last years plants that thrived included sedges, rushes, bloody dock (died back in the summer heat) calla lilies and hosta. None of the arrowheads survived but everything else has including some plant I did not order that has just showed up. Now you can not even see the gravel in the bog for all the plants and the water remains clear.
Some advice I received from this forum was to plant a lot of plants and those that survive will thrive. And that is what has happened. The attached photos show the change.

 

[Jhn]

Cannas, taros/elephant ears, ( not really winter hardy in my bog) but I like the tropical look the give, so I just get new ones in the spring. Even planted a mangrove propagule, in the bog.....Will have to bring it inside for the winter though, not a winter hardy tree.

winter hardy plants, that do a great job using Up nutrients.... water celery, forget me nots, creeping Jenny, irises( once they get going), parrot feather..

you want plants that establish and grow quickly So they consume a lot of nutrients from the pond water...the aforementioned winter hardy ones all do that save for the irises they can take a year or so to really get going.

 

[addy1]

Water willow, lizard tail, pickerel rush, creeping jenny

 

[poconojoe]

I'm in zone 6a.

My bog has been up and running for around 4 months. My pea soup colored water totally cleared up within a week of starting up the new bog and has continued to be crystal clear. My only filter now is the bog. I sold my two pressure filters and UV light.

You won't be disappointed with a bog as long as you build it properly and size it correctly.

Every plant I stuck in there is thriving. Most are Winter hardy, but some are tropical that will need replacing next Spring. I have a lot of the plants previously mentioned. One I will add to the list is Marsh Marigold. I even stuck Water Hyacinths and Water Lettuce in there so my fish don't devour their roots. As the Hyacinths and Lettuce multiply, I move some to the pond.

 

[Bromeliad]

Thanks so much everyone! This is extremely helpful.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

2) What are your favorite winter hardy pond species (for both pond and bog)? What are some plants that will reliably return after winter?
I am in zone 8b/9a

Look into what some of your native wetland species are. Chances are, they'll do great.

 

[Mmathis]

@Bromeliad With some plants, I would look carefully, and make sure you are getting the “right” plant, or right variety of a certain plant. Also, look on here for where members that grow those plants live (USDA zone). I say this because (sometimes) the variety of the plant and the location will have a profound effect on the results you’ll get. You can’t always go by what the plant’s information sheet says, either. In my opinion, it’s best to go by what people in your part of the country (or world) have experienced.

And sometimes, it doesn’t matter at all, because if it’s a plant you want to try, you won’t know for sure until you try it yourself. Like anything else, Mother Nature doesn’t always follow the rule book! I like to ask about invasiveness as well as hardiness. Again, this can vary by location.