I admit this was several years ago but a bag of sphagnum moss at a good arts and crafts store was not that much. I wanted it to hide the evergreen& holly 'legs' in a Christmas planter. Is there a "michaels" nearby? Try there.

Whether you can find it undyed is another question. People who do model railroads use it in quantity.

if you want live moss that's out of my league. But just to cover dirt in planter the dried might work. You could also look up on line 'bags of lichen/moss" which would probably direct you a site that model railroad hobbyists use

Thanks for the idea, Marie! I was hoping for live plants, and those are pretty expensive! But I might have to just go with dead moss like that as a temporary fix and maybe buy live plants next year. My gardening budget is getting away from me this year! LOL

@Jay 6a Chicago, your Venus Flytraps are doing awesome! I've shied away from them because (1) I had one as a kid and killed the crap out of it with ignorance, and (2) I've read that they're harder to manage? But your are great.

I'm concerned that my bog is WAY too wet, and I'm not sure what I did wrong. I followed these instructions:

https://www.bbg.org/article/mini_bog_garden_with_carnivorous_plants

I thought maybe the soil was too wet when I put it in. But it's been 3 days now, and the soil still looks pretty soupy! If I push down on the soil from the top, I can feel it slosh underneath :-O The plants all seem fine, but with that much water I don't know how long that will last.

I am considering setting up a bog garden, if only to find a home for the primula and trollius seedlings. I have always dismissed such a possibility, living in one of the driest places in the UK, but all gardens are artifice so I feel I may as well try to scratch out a small corner of moist soil and dappled shade. Still at the research stage but getting excited at the possibility of extending my pond.

Rosaprimula, that's wonderful that you considering a small bog garden. The Primula meadia here doesn't need those conditions. I managed to grow some bog violets which was satisfying. Pardon any typos, I can't comment here with my autocorrect running. I should keep a dictionary at

arm's length. I forgot to mention to Jason that another good reason for having live Sphagnum, is that it's the perfect medium for the seeds of many bog plants to germinate in. You can grow a few treasures and keep the high moisture level controlled when it's done on a small scale.

Jason. I've been preparing my containers a different way. I'm not saying it's a better way, but I have seen some beautiful bog pots with lush Spagnum using this method. The pots with the plants in them have drainage holes and they have lava rock in the bottom. I place them in the hard plastic liner,(that doesn't have drainage holes),( I call them lily tubs), and then I fill the tubs to the desired level. I only use rain water. Tap water can kill the plants. ONLY USE RAINWATER! The pitcher plants like their feet wet constantly. Venus Fly Traps prefer moist soil that dries out periodically. I used a mixture of Sphagnum peat and large grained silica sand. I've had problems not getting the Sphagnum to grow, and I think it's because the silica sand isn't providing the necessary drainage, and the soil is too heavy. I'm going to redo all my pots using perlite instead of sand. I think I will do one of my lily tubs using the instructions on your link, and poke a tiny hole/holes in the bottom and put an empty pot in the middle yada yada. I will compare and note any differences in plant growth. Im going to move all the containers where they will get a few hours less direct sun, because I think the Sphagnum will like that better. I'm still in the experimental stage and learning from a lot of mistakes. Maybe you can try using perlite in a couple pots and compare the difference? I have a rubber pool liner and my ultimate goal is to have an inground bog. A couple species I'm growing, like Water Willow, Blue Flag Iris, and Buttonbush, take up a lot of space. There are so many native and non native species that are bog dwellers that it's mind boggling, and the majority of people have no idea they even exist. I haven't tried any Lycopodium and Equisitum species yet.😳💡 There is a Juniper Haircap Moss the grows in moist, sandy areas around here that is amazing. I'd love to get that moss thriving in a pot. And I absolutely love Polygala, Milkwort species that grow in boggy conditions. Not my pics.

Maybe you can try using perlite in a couple pots and compare the difference?

I originally had the trumpet pitchers in 6" pots with this soil:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LF2LMWS/

I left them in full sun with a 1" tray underneath each of them.

One of them did great.

One did OK (lived but with much, much smaller trumpets)

The others all died!

So for this new bog, I bought this peat moss:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BM1SFKV1/

and this sand:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BBMQXSKH/

I already had a bag of Perlite on hand (used for my Christmas cactii).

I thought that I had bought enough sand to make it 3 parts peat, 1 part sand, and 1 part perlite, but I was light so I overcompensated with perlite.

I'll post some pics tomorrow. I'm thinking about poking a small hole in the liner, too, but if I mess it up then that's a lot of time and effort wasted!

Here's my bog so far:

See how wet it is? I'm concerned that I'm totally flooding the plants :-O

Maybe try making the drainage holes bigger? The Drosera looks like it's swimming, but they can handle infrequent flooding. Ive seen them growing in tussocks that are periodically flooded. They grow on the raised sides, not in the bottom.

I haven't put in a drainage hole (yet), I was going by the instructions in that link I posted earlier. But it's been 4 days and everything is still floating!

Maybe a drainage hole on the side, about 2" from the bottom?

In the link you shared, it said to put drainage holes in the liner. I'm not sure it specified where to put them. Id go ahead and put them 2 inches up from the bottom like you said.

I just double checked, it said for the pot in the middle to have drainage holes but not the liner:

https://www.bbg.org/article/mini_bog_garden_with_carnivorous_plants

Are we talking about the same thing? Drilling holes in the liner?

If the soil is flooded, there should be water in the empty pot. You will have to wick it out until there's no more water in it. The problem with that bog planter is different species need different water levels, and a water level that's perfect for Sarracenia will kill Dionaea and Drosera. Too bad they don't mention that situation in your link.