  Texas bogs are characterized by white-to-very-light-brown of the purest,
cleanest sand, often sitting on top of a layer of clay, and fed from seeps
(holes from which underground water seeps on the surface and saturates the
area), keeping the sand constantly hydrated.
There are numerous sites in at least eleven countries, and more are found each year. Some fall to development and farming. Over time, I hope to bring many of them to you in updated virtual photo-tours, while at the same time finding out what's (still) out there.
"Where can I see bogs and savannas in Texas?" you might ask. Since about 97% of Texas land is privately owned, so are many sites, and the owners have allowed CPT to photograph the bogs with the agreement that the location would not be made public.
I can't blame them, considering that some of these bogs have been heavily poached by folks who could have adopted cultivated native carnivorous plants. Do not despair though.
Some other locations are on State and US property. Some of these public
sites, as well as one private site, have been equipped to accept visitors.
These are part of our heritage, and I encourage you to visit and support
them. Some seeps are in the five remaining Texas
wilderness areas, surrounded by huge longleafs and oaks, and are a home
for myriads of interdependent plants and animals.
To see the spectacular, alien-looking, fragnant, yellow flowers of the Texas
pitcher plant (S. alata), visit from late March to late April; they produce
bug-gobblin' pitchers from Spring to Fall, with the best-looking ones in late-August
to September. Blooming times may differ as much as two or more weeks,
from southermost known habitat in Tyler Co., to northernmost known habitat
in Wood Co.
To see pink sundews flower visit in late March-early April. Butterworts (pinguicula pumila) flowers all season long. Bladderworts (Utricularia subulata) start blooming in early April in the south.
Open to visitors are:
- The Watson Pinelands Preserve
close to Warren, TX, in Tyler Co. Owned and managed by Geraldine Watson,
a conservationist, artist, and a legend in these parts, the preserve is
a pineland savanna with a boardwalk running through it, and is open to the
public free of charge.
- The Big Thicket National Preserve
- Turkey Creek Unit in Warren, TX, features pitcher plant and sundew
trails.   This is a savanna with one of the largest S. alata population
in Texas.
- The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, in Athens, TX, has two large man-made bog gardens, choke-full of native Texas carnivorous, and other bog plants!
WARNING !
Do not collect pitcher plants or other carnivorous plants from the wild, unless the plant is not endangered, the plants are privatelly owned and you have permission from the land owner, and the reason for the collection is propagation of these plants. Cultivated plants can be had for a few dollars, and there is no need to thin out the remaining wild populations.
In addition, it is very likely that wild plants will be carrying parasitic insect eggs and/or larvae, which may wreak havoc to your cultivated plants, totally destroy your dad's veggie garden and your mom's prized rose-bushes, then move on to your neighbors' gardens.
Poaching or destruction of any plant, animal, or habitat in national forests carries big federal penalties. On private land, poachers (and thieves in general) could be legally shot ( site site) by the owner, or the owner's friends (site).
As if the above is not enough, East Texas is home to copperheads, cottonmouths (water moccasins), and timber rattlesnakes, and coral snakes, all four very venomous and everywhere. If one is bit while in the wilderness, miles away from a hospital, with their heart pumping hard from hiking (or digging), they ain't going to make it.
