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Garden dislikes anyone?

15 comments


Having moved five years ago and inherited a neglected garden there are always some things that you probably wouldn’t have bought to put in your own garden.
I am talking about garden plants, not the dislike of the normal things like weeds!

Mine include the day lilies which are just starting to be in full bud. I find them irritating, they take up so much room for so little return, tend to harbour all the nasties underneath and smother anything else in the bed. We have a bed of them under one of the bedroom windows, the picture shows them before they came into bud.

Another I probably wouldn’t have had is a bed of Japanese Anemone (Anemone hupehensis) which was planted in a circle round a huge yew tree. I don’t hate them quite as much as hubby, but they are a plant that wanders, never stays where it’s put.

I have never been a great fan of roses, the hybrid tea type, love the ramblers and climbers, but have inherited a few bush roses which have been butchered to get them back into shape, but seem to be pulling through. I think my dislike of them harks back to the days of ‘must prune 9/10th’s inch by the light of a full moon shining through light rain’ type fiddling about instructions, then there was all that spraying for black spot, aphids, white fly and fungus. Having fussed with all that they spat out a few blooms and ripped your arm open on the thorns when you leant forward to smell one.

Now I have lots of roses, but more of that another day.

Never did like shrubs but have come to appreciate them, more from the ‘less work than pricking out hundreds of annuals’, perhaps it’s an age thing.

Like bulbs springing up everywhere but hate it when I am forever digging them up when planting something, more labels or a better memory I suppose.

Garden geraniums were always another dislike, pretty but they flopped everywhere and looked straggly. Strange as I am fond of the wild variety Cranesbill or Herb Robert and you can’t say that doesn’t flop everywhere! But you can pull that up with a clear conscience.

I bet there are loads of you with pet hates, if you dare voice them on a gardening site – there will always be someone who adores them and will defend them with their life!

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Comments

 

The garden was bare here when we moved in and friends gave us bits from their own garden.....thats when I found out that I didn't like Euphorbia........and can't abide green flowers.......

23 Jun, 2013

 

I love the flowers on the anemone but we did dig one out this year as I was a bit worried that it would take over :/

23 Jun, 2013

 

I dislike red flowers - of any kind although, will tolerate roses.
Dislike all but dwarf daffodils.
Dislike mahonia !
Dislike annuals in general.

23 Jun, 2013

 

I dislike euphorbia too, for their green flowers yet i love alchemilla mollis ... but for that gorgeous 'raindrops' effect.
I don't like orange in the garden, trying hard to get rid of the orange crocosmia and replace it with the fiery red or yellow ones.
I dislike mahonia mainly because its leaves remain so prickly when they drop and invariably attack me when I am weeding. I would rather have any other shrub that flowers in winter.
As for leylandii, why on earth did God create it, grows as fast as a triffid, presents the same image all year round and creates an arrid plot around itself which few other plants can tolerate. Give me a mixed hedge any day for its seasonal changes and the support it offers to wildlife.
Gardeners who plant willynilly causing problems for those who follow in their footsteps, ie. folk who don't consider the fully grown size of plants before they site them to the detriment of walls, paths and even other plants. many horror stories could be avoided with a little research and forethought.

23 Jun, 2013

 

So many plants we hate...it got me silent and thoughtful. Isn't it that the plants we have - or may have 'inherited' are the wrong ones for their place.
When we moved to our house over 10yrs ago we had 5 pampas grass plants where even one might have been enough. It took me a whole summer to saw, rip/dig to get rid of them (too tight space to burn).
Had also a miserable euphorbia growing everywhere like a weed, still I love so many of them.
Also had a suckering pretty pink and green plant (just can't remember its name) with an orangey scent - I still have not yet managed to get rid of them all.
We had a lovely weeping willow covering even the neighbours' gardens (and hated by them all I am sure) - it took over our garden - where hardly anything grew (except the previous)... It would have been magnificent in a stately home garden...almost had a divorce over the plant - now it is gone and I could almost claim back the garden...
Except the BAMBOOS - so lovely in Japanese ascetic garden....
It took me months to get rid of them - by hand - 5hrs a day from Sep until Xmas...
I would add bamboos in the list of plants which should require a permit to plant - together with leylandii...
Another time I'll return to the story of the bamboos when I work out how to put it onto the site...
More next time..

23 Jun, 2013

 

Him upstairs didn't Xela......, it was a chance seedling that someone chose to propagate on not knowing the consequences......should never have been allowed in my opinion but it is. :0(

23 Jun, 2013

 

I have a dark red Peony. Was here when I came 13 years
ago. Have dug it up 4 times as the flowers only last about 3 days.
Still here. This year I couldnt do the garden for weeks, then it flowered again -
a lovely display, as if to say " Ha ha ! Cant get rid of me!"

23 Jun, 2013

 

Lol, one [wo]man's meat is another's poison, I love peonies. They are so stately some how and require very little attention. Yours must be very large, I didn't think they took kindly to being disturbed.

23 Jun, 2013

 

Fascinating to read about what other people's dislikes are. This blog was brought about by reading (on another blog) that someone wanted to get rid of celandines! I have been trying to encourage these and my Sister has been studiously digging them from her garden (not wanted) and potting them for mine! My daughter can't get violets to grow - we are inundated with them, they seed everywhere. We have Phygelius aequalis which grows like a weed and spreads everywhere, now having to dig a huge patch of this up to make way for the new extension - goodness knows where it will all go!
Again my daughter has bamboo and gave me some for near the pond, I potted it carefully to nurture it, but it all died - she's digging it out of the lawn and burning it!
To Lm bahr - Thank goodness no-one had slapped a preservation order on the tree so you were stuck with it! And..the pampas grass I can agree with as I spent some time helping someone try to cut one out, but they still have it. My daughter again has one and I told her it could be harbouring the rats she can't get rid of - lovely warm home for the winter, full of nesting materials, back of the shed to nip under for food and no chance of her dog getting to them!

23 Jun, 2013

 

It's been good to read all the comments - I have many dislikes, yet since joining GOY have planted a few as I've learned how useful they are in a garden and now wouldn't be without them!

I've only been in this garden a few year - almost everything growing has been planted by me and thus far I'm not too perturbed about anything.....
My neighbour on the other hand - now that is a different matter. All the plants or as I call them 'weeds' that want to take over my garden come under or over then fence from their garden! Kerria, Lily of the Valley, Snowberry and a few others that I don't yet know their name!! I see that she has planted a few more this year that will in time become my problem in a year or two! Maybe though she is saying the same thing about me!
What is funny though is that she always shows me what she has bought and asks for advice - then I tell her how big or where it really needs to grow, then promptly plants them in an inappropriate place. I would/could never dream of falling out with her over it, she's a very nice person. I just have to deal with the fall out. I currently have a Prunus laurocerasus less that 4ft from my front window but on her side of the fence!! Loppers will be at the ready in a year or two!

23 Jun, 2013

 

I like all plants, but I like some more than others. What I do dislike are lawns. I find them boring ... and it's a nuisance having to mow them all the time. That's why I haven't got any :o)

24 Jun, 2013

 

Thanks again for the comments on the blogs and I was fascinated to read about some peoples likes/dislikes. For Scottish I feel really sorry about your neighbour especially as she is a nice person. If she wasn't you could harbour thoughts that she was doing it on purpose!
Regarding the Kerria, I have one in a pot waiting for the right place to put it but never thought about it being invasive, so will have to give it even more thought now.
Lilly of the Valley I don't think I would mind spreading rapidly and have been nurturing a few little clumps in various places to see what they like best - the peacocks took to sitting on one lot, so perhaps that spot is not good!
Snowberry my Mother always had - perhaps that's why!!
And...I agree with Hywel about the lawns, or in my case - grass. Ours is destined to be got rid of mostly, though hubby wants some left.

25 Jun, 2013

 

Have to say this took a lot of thought and wandering around the garden a few times , its been said a weed is a plant in the wrong place so yes I have to include them, some I do hate with a vengeance, creeping ground elder and mares tail, the bane of my life, never have found a way to get rid of either, the elder grows under the hedgerow in the front and spreads into the granite on the driveway as does the mares tail, my neighbour seems to cultivate it, otherwise in all honesty I can't say as I hate any other plant really, I think its more a case of hating where said plant is growing, lets face it buttercups for instance, I do admire them in meadows and along the verges but don't want them in my garden, stinging nettles belong elsewhere as well as do lots of very pretty wild flowers....
I do have a few plants that I now regret planting in certain spots, Houttuynia for instance is the worst, I think its a very attractive plant and bought one a few years ago for the back of my fishpond," BIG " mistake, I should have done my research, I still admire it and have some growing in a pot but every time I am in the garden I find myself pulling the darn stuff out as its roots have gone all over the place, I really do not want to have to dig out all the other plants and wouldn't dare use anything to get rid of it because of its proximity to the pond, so its a case of keep tugging and hope for the best, lol, spreading Hypericum is another,it was in the front garden when we moved in, a certain numpty moved a bit to the back many moons ago and now cannot get rid, it only looks good when in flower and is a biddy nuisance........

25 Jun, 2013

 

Gosh, I am struggling to keep my Houttuynia growing. It wasn't doing well in the plastic basket on the edge of the pond so I repotted it into a purpose-made bag which it seems to like even less. I don't understand it, it grew perfectly well in my previous pond.

26 Jun, 2013

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