Plants you regret planting

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by Loki, Feb 12, 2018.

  1. Loki

    Loki Total Gardener

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    I tackled a very overgrown geranium today. It was in the wrong place, it had grown into the retaining wall and ate about 2foot of lawn:yikes: I know they are a good "do-er" but this one ( a bog standard pink one ) had to go :phew:
    So it got me wondering, what plants we have planted and regretted or as newbies put in the wrong place ( like me with a cute little cutting from the school summer fair:doh:)
    I'd love to know your thoughts :)
    I've got to add I'm still trying to get rid of alcamilla mollis (spelling fail:mute:)
    Ladies mantle and bronze fennel roots will take a earthquake to uproot :yikes:
     
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    • Irmemac

      Irmemac Total Gardener

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      What a great idea for a thread, @Loki.

      Hmm... Well, I bitterly regretted planting the couple of montbretia corms my mother-in-law gave me, because they completely took over a flower bed and took several years to get out completely. I also had a few lysimachia which got completely out of hand. They were almost impossible to dig out because the rhizomes were very hard to cut through when lifting :psnp:.
       
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        Last edited: Feb 12, 2018
      • Doghouse Riley

        Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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        "Je ne regrette rien," as they say.

        We have had plants which have outstayed their welcome.
        But we treat them like furniture. If we get tired of any we replace them and either give them away or bin them. Sometimes they get demoted and given "a stay of execution," by being moved to a less intrusive location. Like two lavender plants which were in the bed in front of our kio pool, they were swapped for some hebes and spent a year in tubs in front of the garage. But they only had a "final short walk," from there, to the green bin.
         
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        • Loki

          Loki Total Gardener

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          Montbresia / crocosmia is another one!:love30: Good lord I think I'll be giving away bits of it forever:) it never stops popping up! :rolleyespink:
           
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          • wiseowl

            wiseowl FRIENDLY ADMIN Staff Member

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            Good morning I never have regrets about planting anything just the place I planted them in:smile:
             
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            • luciusmaximus

              luciusmaximus Total Gardener

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              I have had the same problem , although I didn't plant them. They are quite hard to dig out . Wiseowl collects Crocosmia :snorky:
               
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              • Redwing

                Redwing Wild Gardener

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                I once planted a viburnum which grew much too large for the border it was planted in. Spent years cutting the growth down. It became something of a battle. Eventually it gave up.
                 
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                • HarryS

                  HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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                  As WOO , I have quite a talent for planting things in the wrong place . I do regret planting a Buddleja , " for the butterflies" . Its not the prettiest of plants for me. Now Crocosmia seems to be the Marmite of the plant world . I like it , the Lucifer and the more common orange one . Doesn't seem to spread in my locations.
                   
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                  • noisette47

                    noisette47 Total Gardener

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                    The only plants definitely in the wrong place and can't be moved, AFAIK, are my seedless grapevines. They're in alternating rows with blackcurrants and raspberries which both need watering in summer, but the vines don't. Keep promising them that I'll do cuttings and transplant them somewhere drier........
                     
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                    • Clare G

                      Clare G Super Gardener

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                      A few years ago somebody gave me a bag of assorted alliums. Most of them were lovely, but amongst them were some allium triquetrum. I liked those too, to begin with - pretty white flowers - but they are real thugs and did their best to take over the whole border. I did think I'd managed to dig them all out and get rid of them last year, but must have missed some as I can now see their leaves coming through!
                       
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                      • Doghouse Riley

                        Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                        We have a couple in our front garden, but they're well controlled, they get thinned out on a regular basis. Due another at the end of this year. We get some flowers pretty much all year round.

                        January this year.


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                        This is the fence I errected about fifteen years ago, between ours and next door's garden, far less obtrusive than the usual post and panel ones which can dominate tiny front gardens.

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                        They've been thinned out from what they were like the year before last. They do make an effective screen. The azalea started life as a damaged one in a 4" pot in the reduced bin on a market stall. Over the decades I layered it many times.

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                        • WeeTam

                          WeeTam Total Gardener

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                          I regretted buying my treeferns in 2009 only for them to be killed in that freeze in 2010. Cost a packet



                          Didnt learn my lesson as Ive bought another 10 since then :rolleyespink:
                           
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                          • Doghouse Riley

                            Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                            I could have regretted buying this "dwarf" conifer thirty years ago, when I built our goldfish pond which a year later I turned into our koi pool, but I didn't. Here it is just about visible on the top of the rockery. I later removed the little cluster of them near the lamp.

                            2nd_pond.jpg


                            We've still got it. This from last year. It's been home to many families of small birds.
                            I was in the process of re-stocking the rockery when I took this photo, having spent a long time digging out the grass, it has since recovered. The tree has never "killed anything."


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                            • "M"

                              "M" Total Gardener

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                              Can't say I *regret* any of the plants I've planted because each and every one has been a learning curve for me in one way or another.

                              I can truthfully say I've had plants I've been disappointed with but that is because they failed - which is more indicative of *my* failings than the plants :heehee:

                              I still tend to only try plants which should be straightforward, so, no exotics for me (having said that, I'm trying my first Canna this year) mainly because I need the confidence of successes outweighing the failures :heehee:

                              Great idea for a thread :thumbsup:
                               
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                              • HarryS

                                HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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                                I was a bit daunted of Cannas when I started. They are large and look sub tropical and difficult . I grew from seed in 2012 , at the start of the GC Canna craze ! I'll be planting the rhizomes from these seeds for the 7th time next month , they are a very reliable plant :blue thumb:
                                canna.JPG
                                 
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