swamp plants in a trough

[arisaema]

Congratulations, Wim! You beat me to it, but only by a couple of days

(Edit: Thanks, Maggi!)

[Maggi Young]

Congratulations, Wim! You beat me to it, but only by a couple of days

Aha! So, now we know..... many happy returns to you ,soon, then Bjørnar !

[WimB]

Do you think Ramonda's, Jancaea's or Haberlea's would like it there? Or would it be too sunny? The trough is in full sun from 14u untill the evening.

@ Arisaema: congratulations for your birthday too 

[WimB]

Hello,

I just got an e-mail from someone who told me that it would be too wet for all alpines even if I mound it up with tufa...
What do you think? If I fill it up with soil untill the edge and then put a mound off tufa on it, would it be okay?

Thanks

Wim

[Paul T]

Wim,

It might help to have the trough off-level, so that the back of it (from a viewing point of view) is higher than the front.  That way there is more soil (or whatever media above the saturation level.  If you do it so that it leans towards where it will be viewed from it won't be at all obvious, but the water level will be effectively lower than if the trough was perfectly level.  Just a matter of propping up the "back" of it.  Does that make sense?

Either way, unless you're using bog plants whose roots are used to saturated soils and therefore no air around them, the only bits that are going to be useful to plant roots are those areas of soil that are above the waterline.  What is why I was talking about changing the level of the pot so that the effective waterline is lower, and therefore more of the soil is available to plant roots.

Also, depending on your definition of "alpine".... there are hanging bogs etc in alpine areas in Tasmania at least, so these would be populated by alpine plants that love bog conditions.  I would be surprised if there are not similar bogs in alpine areas in other parts of the world.

[WimB]

Thanks Paul,

It's a good idea to put the trough off-level.

Maybe you could give me some info about the bog-plants that are living in the alpine areas of Tasmania. And maybe someone has ideas about alpine bog-plants from other parts of the world that would like it there...

[Lesley Cox]

The little NZ Caltha species and some Ranunculus spp, as well as things like Drosera, Celmisia argentea, Phyllacne, Herpolirion novae-zelandiae, Astelia linearis and many more but maybe these aren't generally available in Belgium or even Europe. You'd have to look in the society seedlists.

[Paul T]

Wim,

I'd love to help with names of the bog plants from Tassie, but unfortunately I can't help.  I know the hanging bogs exist, but don't know the plant details for that area.  I'll see what I can find out for you, but not sure how long it will take.  Got to think about where I'd research for something like that.  I've finished up at the Botanic Gardens here in Canberra for now (so I'm not in there every day), but will try to drop in sometime and see what books they have in the library there that might be useful.  Not sure exactly whn that will happen, but won't be until next week.

A couple that I'd imagine would fit the bill would be Ranunculus collinus, Ranunculus glabrifolius and Gunnera cordifolia, at least in damp conditions that you were talking about creating.  All are spreading plants though, so probably not suitable for troughs?

[rob krejzl]

Wim,

See if you can find a copy of Alpine Tasmania by Jamie Kirkpatrick (ISBN 0-19-533753-x) for plant choices.

The Droseras and Herpolirion are common to NZ and Tassie flora. You might also consider some of the bolster community plants (Abrotanella fosteroides, Donatia nova-zelandiae, Drocophyllum minimum, Phyllachne colensoi, Pterygoppappus lawrencei), perhaps Richea gunnii (reaches an eventual height of 1m, but very slow-growing) or even Isophysis tasmanica or Geum talbotianum as possibilities.

[Paul T]

Rob,

Excellent, I'd hoped you might chime in if you were reading this.  Great Stuff!! 

[WimB]

after a lot of debate, I've decided to go with the idea of Susan:

I builded a mound of tufa on top of the soil (actually it looks like a step-pyramid, that might have something to do with my archaeological studies 

All the tufa is in contact with soil, now I only need the plants, suggestions...??

[Susan Band]

Wim,
Your trough looks good, there is plenty of planting space above the water level.
I would water and leave it for a week or so to see how far up the tufa the moisture gets. The tufa should draw the moisture up from the trough but hopefully never be sitting wet except perhaps at the very bottom where it is in contact with the wet soil.
Ramondas and perhaps Jankaes should grow well if the trough is placed in the shade. Androsace, small dianthus  if in the sun. I reckon the roots will go down to the moisture level they are comfortable with.
 Let us know what happens.

Susan

[Anthony Darby]

I was beginning to think, after all the suggestions, you're going to need half a dozen troughs Wim.

[WimB]

My thought exactly, Anthony. 
Maybe I'm going to start a business in planted troughs for lazy people...