• Many appealing perennials are at home in boggy environments.Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Perennials that perform as bog plants flourish in moist to wet soils. Many of them also survive on less than four hours of sun each day. Bog perennials provide solutions for those wet, sun-starved areas where little else can grow. They offer a wide choice of forms, heights and flower or foliage characteristics. Many bog perennials also feed and shelter wildlife.
  
  

Marsh Marigold

• Marsh marigold (Caltha plaustris) is a bog perennial hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 3 and winter temperatures between minus 30 and minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Its upright, branching stems rise above 1 to 1 1/2-foot clumps of heart-shaped, glossy green leaves. In April and May, this buttercup family plant has clusters of bright-yellow, cup-shaped blooms. When the flowers fade, its leaves continue to grow. They eventually measure up to 7 inches across and provide garden interest into late summer. Use marsh marigold in the wet soil or shallow water at the margins of ponds. It flowers most heavily in full sun, but benefits from afternoon shade in hot summer climates.
  
  

Dragon's Mouth

• Dragon's mouth (Arethusa bulbosa), or swamp pink, is a spring- and summer- blooming, orchid family perennial. It grows in bogs and swamps from northern New England to South Carolina and west to Minnesota. Between May and June, each plant has a 2- to 15-inch leafless stalk with one or two fragrant, pink to magenta blossoms. The sweetly fragrant, elegant flowers have lipped petals with yellow-tinged, white throats and magenta blotches. The plant's single, green leaf appears after the flowers. Dragon's mouth likes sun and wet, acidic (pH below 7.0) peat bogs.
  
  

Common Ladies' Tresses

• Common ladies' tresses (Spiranthes cernua var. odorata) is a zone 5-hardy perennial native to bogs from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Texas. This orchid family plant stands from 9 to 12 inches high and up to 1 foot wide. In late summer and early fall, common ladies' tresses' densely packed, fragrant, hooded white flowers spiral around its upright stems. The twisted stems rise from basal clusters of lancelike, green leaves. This bog perennial performs best in partial shade and acidic, wet soil.
  
  

Allegheny Monkeyflower

• Another zone 3 perennial, Allegheny monkey flower (Mimulus ringens) grows wild in 42 of the lower 48 states. Only Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming have no populations of the summer- to fall-blooming plant. From June to September, its lilac blooms open. Resembling snapdragon flowers, they occur where the plant's 2- to 4-inch lancelike leaves join its stems. This bog perennial typically stands 1 to 3 feet high. Allegheny monkey flower tolerates full sun, but flourishes in partial shade. It's happiest in near water, but will perform in consistently moist garden borders.