Hi, Vaccinium oxycoccus won't overtake your garden if you control them. At least that's not my experience. But they will spread eventually so you do need to check them. Don't know about V. macrocarpon and similar species. About size of a seperate bog garden, I'd say that they really can grow in a very small and actually rather dry environment - but more optimal conditions of course gives faster growth. /Hans Olav

Thanks for the info. I can google photos of everything you gave me and go from there. Ironically, SB's are probably the most common Swallowtail that I see. The other weekend, armed with my camera,I go marching through the woods and a large, fresh male flops leisurely by, which prompts me trudging in the bush looking for trees I haven't even identified yet. You see, my property which used to be in the county limits (recently annexed city) shares a tiny portion of about a 9-12 acre swath of of some pretty diverse habitat. There is some marshy and very low areas, there are pine backwood, scrub oak hammocks and just an overall diversity as one enters this small area. I've seen deer, wild boar families (big ones!), bobcats, all sorts of birds and wading birds due to several ponds connected to the acreage. Anyway, this weekend I'm going back into the bush to look for cats.

I think I got bit by the bog bug. I am now feeling an uncontrolable erge to start a big bog collection. On the way home, I stopped by Lowes and got three 20 gallon mini ponds, a big bag of peat, and a couple of bags of sand. I partially buried the containers in the ground to hopefully keep them from freezing in the winter. I think I will mulch arund them and make another garden bed in about the only place left in the yard that doesn't already have a flowerbed. Everything looks so good. I have blue rush, light green rush, medium green rush, taller rush that has a cream colored verticle stripe, some type of bog iris (Ione told me what kind it was, but I forgot), and 2 types of lotus! Even though some of the plants had already been removed, we were able to get alot of neat stuff.

I grow nettles in a tub, it's about 20cm high but it's mostly on top of the ground (not sure whether it makes much difference). In the ground next to it is a big mugwort bush whose roots choke out everything around it. They've been there for a few years now and they haven't disturbed each other yet; the tub is rooted to the ground now but no nettled outside of the tub. I've only had them for a few years but that's my experience so far.