Tough as old boots plants - nominations ( no prizes)

Inspired by a reply to one of my threads, which plants, whether you like them or not, are tough as old boots? Evil weeds excepted.
Boots come in handy in an inhospitable spot or to give confidence to beginner gardeners.

 

Sedum spectabile is probably the best, no care plant, I can think of. It's one that you probably don't even have to plant, just stick it on the soil, don't water in and yet in a few weeks it will flower it's socks off and be carpeted in bees. If you have big feet like I do, then an accidental stepping on will propagate it for you as well.

 

Verbena bonariensis. Just grows, reasonably rigid considering it gets pretty tall, can dig up seedlings and transplant with little TLC.

 

What! No prizes!

My lips are sealed then.

OK, nothing beats Hardy Geraniums. Thrives in sun, shade, wet, draught, any soil type and the best are nearly evergreen or have nice autumn colour. Flowers all summer. Easy to propagate so if budget is tight, just pull up bits and sell on eBay.

 

Bergenia - a patch of it grows on my dry, stony slope and got swamped by brambles for at least 15 years. After clearing the brambles it's thriving and spreading.

Hypericum - I think mine is probably the Hidcote type and is at least 50 years old. Never gets fed or watered. Last winter I cut it back to the ground from a huge, straggly monster with a bare inside. By July it was trying to take over the whole garden again.

 

Fatsia, trachcarpus and cordyline. All self seed here with abandon....and ivy, but I class that as a noxious weed

 

Jasmine officinale. It will thrive on what it can find under paving slabs.
Acuba - hate it or hate it.
Pulmonaria
Geranium Mac
Many, but by no means all, grasses ( check before you buy)
Euphorbia wulfinnii
Fennel ( not the bulb)
Marjoram
Nasturtiums
Salvia greggii
I could go on.........

 

You only have to sow nasturtiums once, and they'll be with you for life.

 

Same with Nigella!

 

My neighbours flipping Raspberries that are taking over my garden

 

Erigeron karvinskianus, not only tough but also adventurous!

 

Agree with all the above, but hellebores are tough, grape hyacinths, Taraxacum, Plantago major and P lancelota, Rumex obtusifolius, Buddleja davidii, Calystegia sepium. All of these grow anywhere they can get foothold in my garden

 

How do you tell a raspberry from a bramble? Is a bramble the same as a blackberry?
Just curious. Totally academic to me as the squirrels get the lot anyway.
@john558

 

Three of the plants mentioned above are not tough in my garden in SW France.
Verbena Bonariensis falls over and dies in winter.
Bergenia never flowers then dies.
Raspberries are failing, think the summers are too hot.
Fatsia Japonica died, never thrived , in OH's Norfolk garden.

I agree that hardy geraniums and erigeron karvenskianus are tough. So are foxgloves, they seed themselves and have survived moles tunelling under them.