2004 was not a good year for the bog garden. Aphids were bad and the S. flava's first, and usually largest pitchers, were deformed and would barely stand up. Other plants did poorly as well. Worms did a huge amount of damage to the soil, completely turning it over and smothering many of the small drosera.
While worms are great to have in normal garden soil, they are bad news in a bog. They break down the peat and turn it to mush. The also deposit all the peat on the surface, where it smothers small drosera, while leaving the sand down below.
In the Winter and early spring of 2005 I replaced the first foot or two of the peat moss and sand mixture.
The above picture is of the bog in the first week of May. Great blooms from the S. 'taranok,' S. flava, and others. The S. flava is coming up very well, with lots of pitchers, and there are over 13 S. 'Taranok' flowers! Although I changed the soil in most of the bog, I did not change the soil of the large Sarracenias seen above the large rock on the left side of the pond. In spite of that they seem to be doing better than last year.
