Bog seeds are seeds that come from plants that live in bogs or other slow-draining habitats, such as fens. Bogs contain permanently moist and acidic soil, a perfect environment for many cold-hardy carnivorous plants, including the famous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). Bog gardens are also popular for their flamboyant native plants and role in preserving rare ecosystems.
What is royal seed?
Bogs are highly variable, from nutrient-rich peat to sandy clay. Some are a mixture of different types of soil, but the majority contain sphagnum moss, which is a good soil amendment. Bogs provide good habitat for birds, amphibians and insects. Bog seeds can be used to grow a wide range of native plants, from tall gunnera and pendulous sedge to tiny water forget-me-nots. A good place to start is by picking out a spot to make your bog garden. This should be on a level piece of ground away from overhanging trees. Dig a hole and lay in a butyl liner, making sure there are drainage slits. Fill in the liner with excavated soil, mixed with organic material.
The bog seeds tested in this experiment were from Empodisma robustum, which is able to reclaim dominance in New Zealand restiad bogs after fire. However, it is a poor resprouter and has low emergence from the seed bank, so its success in this ecosystem may be due to vegetative expansion rather than germination from soil-stored seeds (Clarkson 1997).
This experiment showed that there are some species that are able to re-establish rapidly from the seed banks of restiad bogs following fire, such as Epacris pauciflora. It is likely that this success is the result of a period of reduced competition after fire, as demonstrated in a similar study of Gleichenia microphylla-dominated heathy peatlands in the Fleurieu Peninsula of Australia (Trezise et al. 2021).