For me it's any of the euphorbias. Only so-so luck with echinacea, about 50% will return. Daffodils, even the ones that are supposed to grow in the south. Narcissus will return, but none of the bigger guys.
What do you think should grow in your garden, but it dies?
They use to farm Daffodils down here and I have no problem growing them. Of course I never got into growing different varieties. I have a few different ones but I just picked them in the wild or someone gave me a few bulbs.
I can't grow brugs but that does not stop me from trying. :-}
I've tried growing acanthus inground, in containers, in shade, part shade - but they always fizzle out on me before they can bloom.
Donna, I hear ya. It took me 5 years to get mine to bloom, but now they seem happy. Full shade with the hosta, TONS of water. And I don't know what is up with the foliage. It's there, then it's dead. Then it's back. Weird plant.
Oh, and abutilon. I am a world class killer of flowering maple. It'll look great one day and then dead the next. Grrrr.
I have brugs growing and one got big last year but I only got a few flowers. The thing that annoys me is down at the Hilton Head High School I saw a huge one that was flowering like crazy and I can't figure out exactly why theirs looks like it does.
of all things Hawthorn...was here by the previous owners and I'm willing to bet it's root bound...too lazy to dig it up though...wait that's not exactly true...I just don't really like the shrub in the first place so perhaps I'm tempting it to just die already... :)
oh and I had a wretched time with Tomato's last year - moved the bed for them this year to see how it goes...rot on the ends got everyone before they ripened...
DId you add some lime or other source of calcium when you pplanted the tomatoes this year? It helps prevent blossom end rot.
I did, especially since it was a a new bed :( couple bags of black cow and compost material...soil here is pretty sandy so was trying to juice it up a bit :)
@CoreHHI, George Westerfield (Master Gardener, former teacher) is in charge of that brug at HHIHS, I've seen it, it's HUGE. It was covered in blooms, too. It's an amazing plant.
Everyone down here seems to have had a hard time with tomatoes the last couple years. Picky things.
I've also had a lot of problems with Brugs. They'll grow, but blooming is a joke for us here it seems. Yet some people have yards full of them - I don't get it.
But the main thing I've lost has been several supposedly hardy bananas. Perhaps it was our colder winters as of late, but many varieties I was growing were supposed to be hardy and never came back. I've lost practically everything except the Basjoo, largest Icecream and largest Sabas. I was especially surprised at the loss of the Orinocos (both dwarf and not), Bordelon, Dwarf Namwah, Pisang Ceylon and 'Praying Hands,' though I knew that last one was borderline at best. The Dwarf Cavendish bananas didn't have a chance - but I should have known better.
Ultimately, I tried, and LOST all of the following (providing the ones I tried last year also don't come back, and it doesn't appear they will. So these are NOT hardy for central SC, at least for me.
Zebrina Rojo (Blood Bananas)
Gran Nain
Itinerans [verdict still out on this one]
'Praying Hands' [pretty sure these all died... again]
Dwarf Namwah
Pisang Ceylon
Siam Ruby
Dwarf Cavendish
Hawaiian 'Apple' / Mainland 'Brazilian'
Bordelon
'Praying Hands'
Orinoco
Dwarf Orinoco
The survivors are:
Basjoo
Abyssinian
Veluntina
'Ice Cream' (Blue Java)
Saba
This message was edited Apr 9, 2011 1:36 PM
Brugs are greedy guts when it comes to food and water - they do their absolute best for me with morning sun and afternoon shade .. I always feed mine at twice the normal dilution of the 1 tbs per gallon stuff and they are still knocking on the door screaming MORE - I think it is impossible to overfeed a brugmansia. I'm going to try foliar feeding this year with the brugs I have left and see if that helps.
Last year was really a weird year for everyone with brugs - I got maybe 6 blooms off of 9 plants .. I'm thinking that it got too hot too fast for them and did not produce many flower bearing Y's - if you remember, we had about 3 weeks of spring weather then boom it hit 90+ degrees and stayed that way til fall .. It's looking like that's going to happen again this year.
As to the abutilon, they do best in dappled shade for me and seem to prefer being root bound and on the dry side. I learned a while back to try potting up plants that seem to croak in the ground .. so far that strategy has worked.
Oh yea, I'm a world class banana killer, too. I've killed all the red ones on your list, and just have Basjoo and Cavendish (dwarf and standard.)
I FINALLY got brugs to live and bloom last year. I stick them in full shade with the hosta and water the heck out of them. I did fertilize some, too.
I am so chuffed, I just found bananas pups around Sweetheat, Goldfinger and Sum X cross, a red leafed one. They have just popped up an inch or two. I was sure they were goners but they surprised me today. They looked so bad I did not even fertilize, now I will have to really watch and feed them.
Speaking of a short spring, my car thermometer said 90 this afternoon. Sheesh!
Going to plant my well rooted brug cuttings (with Y's already) in a semi shady spot and feed them. Third time is the charm, right???? According to Tony Avant you are not a real gardener until you have killed a plant at least three times so if I lose the brugs again that makes me legit. :-)
Lol .. I just did a walkabout and was surprised to see the polyanthus made it! Now if it would just bloom!!!!
Odd thing I noticed about Basjoo. Alice (ardesia) gave me a few a couple of years ago and I planted each one in a different spot where they did have a pup or two. My biggest one sent out a flower in December and then died off within a week. I just noticed today that I have at least 9 new pups coming up and maybe more, not sure how many will be coming up by years end. Just an odd thing I noticed with the Basjoo's.
I've tried brugs in a couple of different places,one with filtered sun light under tall pines with some direct afternoon sun. Growth wise it's my best spot yet but I only got a few flowers very early in the season then nothing. Not sure what the problem was but we will see what happens this year, that brug is about 18" high with multiple stalks at the moment. I have another in more shade and that just doesn't work I think I will move it some where else with more sunlight tomorrow. Busy with veggies today.
I have also had the weirdest luck with certain basjoo. Some pup constantly, others hardly at all. Some bloom at 4-5' tall, others don't bloom until they're nearly as tall as the house. I think it's all about placement and stress with the plant.
I yanked out the euphorbia -- acted like thugs! Even grew in gravel!!!! But I cannot - cannot - get astilbe to come back or poppy.
Any of the "newer" Echinaceas and Scabiosa, which I dearly love, but just can't seem to grow anywhere at this house. Also, strangely, though I see it all over my neighborhood, Creeping Phlox. Weird how some things just do better than others. That's the frustration and challenge of gardening!!
Yote, with me those you mention are critter food and so not sure if we can grow successfully. I think they won't eat scabiosa... I did grow those in durham with no issues but the leaves looked messy
I can't get scabiosa to grow either. Also, coreopsis looks good for about two weeks then it tends to fall over and get fuzzy aphids really bad.
Love this thread! It's so pertinent. Here's what I can't grow, no matter what:
Acanthus
Indian Hawthorne
Pittosporum
Japanese Maple
Euphorbia
Sarcococca
Plumbago
Here's what comes back reliably year after year that shouldn't:
Cestrum Nocturnum (love this thing!)
Clerodendrum Ugadense
Alosia Virgata
No one at Clemson has yet been able to figure it out. Nor have I. Soil tests show a mess of mixed readings. So I had the water analyzed. My well water (aquifer) has a high salt content, my pond water is fine, so I switched all the main ornamental beds to pond water. No noticeable difference after 4 years on these plants. I've finally decided that Mother Nature is way smarter than either me or Clemson, so I'll just keep planting what grows here...
Stono- that would another good thread, what grows in your yard that the "experts" say shouldn't. For me it's:
-Black Lace Sambucus
-Several hosta, like 'Tattoo' that are only supposed to go up to zone 7
-All the cupheas, even bat-faced and hyssopfolia. Not that they grow, but that they reliably return. I don't know that these shouldn't return, but lots of people tell me they have problems with them and they return reliably for me year after year.
Oh, next thread, what have you killed that is supposedly indestructible? For me, lantana. I was teasing a friend at work because she killed mint and I didn't think that was possible. Then I had to own up to murdering lantana- twice.
At my age, the list of "reliable" plants I have killed is too long. I am currently trying brugs - again - we'll see how long that lasts, I am such a brug killer. Someone mentioned echineaceas, I have trouble with them also then I heard Allan Armitage speak at Davidson last year and he mentioned to never buy the newer hybrids unless they were in gallon or larger pots. These are not strong plants and unless they have lived long enough to get good and large, it is unlikely they will live in your garden.
Jenny - lol...it's strange isn't it the things we can and can't grow that others seem to have the opposite effect....
I was pretty thrilled today to note that several brugs are finally up! The cuttings I took last year are finally rooted enough I put 3 of them in the ground...I think the others I may just put in 5 gallon pots and see what happens with them...
My amaryllis have not bloomed in three year. I have divided them. Moved them. Raised them. Feritized and added bone meal. The foliage is beautiful but no bloom. Maby this year ? What am I doing wrong? I have at least 50 that are 10-15 years old and were always beautul. They aren't my favorite bulbs but I hate to admit to failure.
Hmmm Stono you have a few weird ones on your can't grow list.
Indian Hawthorne
Japanese Maple
Plumbago
All of those grow around here, I can walk to an example of each of those.
I too have killed lantana and have know idea what happened. I thought they were very tough plants??
You're right, CoreHHI...that's why I posted the list. EVERYBODY can grow those things, except me. I do have some squirrely water/soil problems that even Clemson can't figure out, so I just use Avant's "3 strikes and your out rule". If I kill it 3 times, in 3 different places, I don't try to grow it.
A local farmer told me he uses this place for soil testing. http://www.watersag.com/frame.htm
I understand they are not cheap but he swears by them for the specific recommendtions he gets which are far more complete than those from that other place.
Tulips will not bloom for me yet 2 doors down here's are beauutiful. I have killed 2 bears breech and promise 3 times. I'll try one more year. I would have a lot less die if I did not have nasty squirrels. Came through the side yard to find one digging up the third pot of zinnias. It almost emptied all the dirt. Out of 30 plants I salvaged only three. They say squirrels are protected- you can't kill them but I'm getting ready for some drastic measures.Did try the Loses topsoil trick but I think they love it.
Peanut butter and birdseed in a hav-a-hart trap. You must take them for a long drive or they'll make their way back to you.
My neighbor does that- I see him almost daily carrying the cage. Another neighbor carried 87 squirrels 16 miles to where he works before he gave up. Problem is we have a county park a block away- they seem to know when there is a vacancy.
cornish, I've had many disappointing experiences with acanthus, but I was impressed that bordersandjacks perservered and and is nowing having success with them. I'm going to follow her advice and try mine in shade with ample water. Seems like our intense summer sun makes them 'go away', but mine do return in Sept - they just won't bloom and never grow into the large specimens I see at garden centers. I wonder if they would be happier as a houseplant, especially during winter and summer.
Orientation for plantasia yesterday and they allowed us to purchase plants. Only acanthes was in a small Pot- $3.00. Thought I won't be out much if I fail again. The poor thing was so root bound I had to cut the pot off. Cut back the roots and put it in deep shade. Time will tell.
Here's a pic of the acanthus today. It has a bloom spike on one plant. Don't know if it will have more. Hard to say.
Nice plantings of acanthus and hosta
Thanks for the pic, cornish. Based on your experience, I moved one to a shadier spot and it's also surrounded by hostas. I like the way it provides a shiny, ruffled contrast to the smooth edges and muted colors of hostas.The plant is large and healthy, but so far no flower spikes. You're at least a half zone ahead of me, so I'm hopeful mine will flower within a couple weeks;-)