Heartwoman, A local water garden nursery has a bog filter on their ponds. Here are their instructions for constructing a bog filter for your pond and they work great. We are currently building a pond with a waterfall & stream and we are definitely including a bog filter. I understand you want to include your bog filter at the top of your waterfall but we are putting ours to the side of the pond. The water will be pumped from the end opposite of the waterfall. At the waterfall, it will be split with part going to the waterfall and part going to the bog filter. Hope this helps, Joan (these instructions came from Nelson's website) The Bog Garden as a Filter Make the bog garden functional as well as aesthetic! By following the directions below you can create a bog garden that also acts as filter; henceforth referred to as the "Bog Gravel Filter". This style filter bog garden is really a variation of the traditional "in pond" bog but forces water through a perforated PVC pipe buried in the bog by a submersible pump located in the pond portion of the water garden. Follow the usual directions for building a liner pond. To provide for the bog gravel filter, just excavate this area to a depth of 12". Before laying in the rubber liner build a retaining wall to separate the 12" deep bog gravel filter from the deeper pond. This wall should be 1-2" below the pond surface. BE SURE TO ALLOW for enough liner to go over this wall. Put a submersible pump in the pond opposite the bog garden and run pipe to the far end of the bog. Select a pump which will turn over the volume of the pond every 2 hours. The outlet of the pump determines the size PVC you will use, i.e. a pump with 1 1/2" outlet would use 1 1/2" pipe. Create a manifold to distribute the water evenly throughout the bog gravel. Drill the PVC pipe with 1/4" holes spaced approximately 3" apart and cap the ends. Your line of holes should point toward the bottom of the pond at a 45( angle. Gravel bogs that are 2-3 feet in width can be fed by a single course of pipe. Wider areas require additional lines spaced 2-3 apart. Lay the PVC pipe matrix on top of the liner then add the gravel to the bog gravel filter area. This layout is similar to setting up a septic system. Lay decorative rocks or stones across the retaining wall but do not mortar in the joints. Follow the directions for planting the bog above. Turn on the Pump. Water filters through the bog, between the joints of the stonework on the retaining wall and back into the pond. You'll be amazed at how quickly the water clears and how lush the plants will grow! NOTE: An existing pond can be retrofitted with a bog garden by building a gravel bog garden nearby. The water can be circulated between the two gardens via pipework or a waterfall. The Border Bog Gravel Filter This is another variation of an "in pond" bog and is the most natural looking bog garden of all. Dig the pond, with a shelf 12" deep all around it's perimeter. This shelf can be as wide or narrow as desired. Vary the width of the shelf around the pond for a natural look. Lay liner into the pond excavation. At the edge of the shelf place tall rocks, if necessary these can be mortared into place. This creates a trench or planting pockets between the edge of the pond and the edge of the shelf bordered by the wall of the pond on one side and the rock wall on the other. Run your drilled pipework through the "trench" and attach to pump inside the pond. Follow directions for planting bog plants in gravel Steps 5-8 of the Gravel Bog Garden. In conclusion Bog Gardens and Bog Gravel Filters are both environmentally responsible forms of gardening. By setting up a Bog Garden you can create a lush garden yet use little water. And the Bog Gravel Filter works with Nature, you are in effect setting up an artificial swamp or marsh. Like swamps and marshes, the Gravel Bog Filter serves as a massive biological and phyto filter. Nitrifying bacteria thrive in the gravel bed reducing the organic wastes, while the plants effectively absorb the nitrates and other nutrients before they can be utilized by algae. You can jump start the bacterial activity by inoculating the gravel with any of a number of good bacterial starter products on the market. Maintenance is typically restricted to a little light pruning during the growing season and a thinning out of the plants each spring. This allows for plenty of room for the plants to grow and continue absorbing the free nutrients in the pond. Some Bog Plant Selections: Bog Plants Arrowhead Assorted Taros Bog Lily Cannas Chinese Water Chestnut Creeping Jenny Dwarf Horsetail Dwarf Papyrus Dwarf Variegated Sweetflag Giant Melon Sword Japanese Iris Lizard's Tail Lousiana Iris Pickerel Rush Red Stemmed Sagittaria Ribbon Grass Ruby Creeper Ruby Eye Arrowhead Sensitive Plant Siberian Iris Spider Lily Spike Rush Star Grass Thalia Variegated Spider Lily White Bull Rush Zebra Rush Plants that are invasive in the Bog (Think Twice Before Planting) Horsetail Aquatic Mint Chameleon Plant Parrot's Feather Red Stemmed Thalia Cattails Umbrella Palm Yellow Iris Other Plants (experiment!) Bishops Weed Crocasmia Hostas Astilbes Fox Glove False Sunflower Primulas Ligularia The rocket Leopard Plant (Ligularia) Day Lilies Helleborus Meadow Rues Hibiscus moscheutos Hibiscus coccineus Bergenia False Dragonhead or Obedient Plant Liatris Polygonums Forget me nots Calla Lily Violas Trilliums Goats Beard Joe Pye Weed Butterfly Ginger Society Garlic Ground Orchidis (Bletilla) Suggested reading: Gardening with Water by James van Sweden Pond and Water Gardens by Bill Heritage The Water Garden a Practical Guide to Planning and Planting by Peter Robinson Waterside Planting by Philip Swindells The Stream Garden by Archie Skinner & David Arscott

Hi! I'm looking for cattails of all types. I have small pond plants: mini corkscrew rush, mini gold/green Acorus calamus, mini white/green Acorus calamus, Yellow Flag water Iris. I also have a variety of marginal plants for the edges of your ponds. I look forward to hearing from you! PurpleFlora

the key is the annual GROWTH RATE .... you can find such at the ACS database .... plus what you start with .... if a mini grows one inch per year .... it surely doesnt need to be put 10 feet from anything ... if a dwarf grows 3 to 6 inches... well you are going to have to give it more space .. comparatively speaking ... etc ... on intermediate and species .... i tend toward the logic of .. plant something that will make your toes curl for about 10 years.... and then get rid of it.. and start over ... if it out grows the space .....so i guess i use spacing under such logic ... no use buying things that FIT... just because they fit .... buy something special ... but then.. things die.... the one next to it matures into something really ugly ... etc ... so think about your garden in 5 or 10 or 20 years .... and truly understand ...NO GARDEN IS PERMANENT ... the real beauty of minis... is you can pretty easily move a 15 year old plant ... it isnt going to be all that big in the future .... but you dont want to try moving the bigger ones in a decade or two ... plan the backbones of your garden .. but dont worry too much about the smaller stuff ... my best advice .... there is no season for conifers .... get out this winter.. to a professional arboretum ... and instead of focusing just on the plants ... focus on how they spaced theirs .... you dont mention where you are.. if you did... we can probably recommend such .... if you are within 2 hours of hidden lakes garden in tipton MI ... just north of adrian .. it would be one of the best road trips you ever took ... in regard to conifers.... link below i have planted various shrubs.. and daylily and iris in between plants [the plants that most gardeners share for free] ... just to take up space.. and provide some interest ... if and when the plants need the space... well ... you know whats going to die ... lol ... they also can live with as little care as an established conifer .... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

I have lowbush blueberries (the Vaccinium) in a hot sunny spot (west exposure) and although I like it, it's a very informal and somewhat sparse plant, which I don't think would compliment roses, unless they're ones with gorgeous foliage. Also, if you spray your roses at all, you'd have quite a dilemma regarding the berries. Is the ph required for roses (slightly acidic) close enough to what this plant, as well as the Ilex and Myrica want? I think of them as requiring a much more acidic soil than the roses. If you're liming the roses, would you be damaging the new border plants? Sweet gale (the Myrica) really loves swampy conditions, in fact it's a pest in local cranberry bogs - maybe it would be happy in dry conditions but that's not where it "chooses" to grow. Where it's happy, it spreads widely by suckering, which I think would make it a poor choice in a rose bed. I had never heard of Gaylussacia, aka Box huckleberrry. It looks like a great plant, but apparently it likes some shade and does sucker. My Ilex glabra is about 7' tall; I know there are shorter ones, but I believe they all get leggy. Would you consider the other old standby for this purpose, lavender? The silver foliage really does compliment most rose beds ... and the flowers are a lovely bonus. I have a few gardens edged with lavender; some, like Grosso, get to be shrub size - 3' or so. What I think makes this lavender so great is that it's really evergreen; there's a row of them just outside my back door, and I can't believe how nicely they've stood up in this awful weather.