Tough as old boots plants - nominations ( no prizes)

A bramble is a wild blackberry. If you saw a raspberry plant next to a blackberry plant you would see that they are different, hard to describe.

 

Verbena borariensis we were given a plant from friends and this is the only time the plant has survived and is lovely. Any other time we have not had this plant continue to next year...but it is wonderful.

 

Well they both have thorns and they are a pain (usually in my Hands)

 

Red valerian(Centranthus ruber), montbretia(Crocosmia), Vinca , black currants, raspberry and Jerusalem artichoke are fairly tough plants that look after themselves here. Also have a fairly tough blackberry that does not have thorns and has bigger fruit than the wild type bramble.

Happy gardening!

 

Erigeron doesn’t like my garden

Vebena bonariensis self seeds so I usually get a few but never bulks up or lasts beyond a year or two.

Agree with hardy geraniums, they e done well in all my gardens which have each had quite different conditions

 

Rosa rugosa. Tries to take over the world, though.

 

I forgot brambles in my list. Raspberries produce canes that grow up, have smaller and fewer thorns, the fruit is generally red and they spread through suckers and seeds. Brambles are the wild form of blackberries they are more scandent (scrambling), overall more vigorous and rapid growing, thhorns are more numerous and larger, fruit is dark purple and when ripe the central "core" does not come out unlike raspberries. They spread by rooting the tips of the arching shoots as well as seed.
Brambles are very variable with many microspecies, a bit like dandelions.
Both Raspberries and Brambles are members of the Genus Rubus in the rose family. The study of Rubus species especially brambles is called batology.

 

Salvia microphylla (blackcurrant sage) and its cultivar 'Hot Lips' both seem indestructible, smell delightful and have a long flowering season. Great plants as long as you don't mind their tendency to spread!

The "White Flower Carpet" rose I planted some years ago in very poor soil (basically a rubble bank) is another toughie. Although described as a ground cover rose it's now a dense bush about 1m x 1m x 1m, and flowers from May through to December:

 

Japanese anemone.
If you don't dig out every single piece of root, they will quickly re-grow. And, as I have found out from my wife's efforts, if you break up the roots into hundreds of pieces, then each piece will produce a plant.

 

The lime green grass Milium Effusum. Plant it once, have it forever. Great value. I guess the clue is in the name! ​

 

I agree re erigeron k.I have had the plant for more than two years and still get only three or four flowers all season.
Verbena bon is great, growing several feet tall and self seedlings take very well. I wouldn' be without it. The seed heads attract flocks of gold finches after the seed in the autumn.

 

Eschscholzia, Californian Poppy, always survives neglect and is almost like a succulent, never needs water but does seed everywhere.

 

Snowberry