Name 3 plants you don't like and why...

I thought this would make for an interesting thread...
As for myself, they are Geraniums, Marigolds and Mums...
Why?
Boring...same ole', same ole'...
I know most of the gardeners that I know that get them and fill their pots and gardens with them want to be able to plant and forget about them...so to speak...they are easy and very hardy. Well, yes they are. When I see them myself I can't pass by them quick enough. I choose my plants according to them being benificial for more than one thing besides their beauty...either being a host or nectar plant for a butterfly, provide nourishment for birds...such as seeds and/or nectar for hummingbirds (like Salvias)...or bring benifical insects such as ladybugs (like Yarrow), and higher pollen content for the bees.

Three I don't like, due to their invasive qualities, are:

Celandine
Aegopodium
Houttuynia (but at least it is beautiful)

1. A rose that doesn't have a scent. Seems pointless.
2. Big, fat, frilly Bearded Irises. Old varieties with slender, clean, natural shapes look better to me.
3. Split-trumpet daffodils. They look like someone punched them on the nose.

This message was edited May 13, 2009 7:39 AM

Only because they're so overused and everyone here seems to have them:
Agapanthus
Wheelers Dwarf Pittosporum
Tam Junipers

same old same old everywhere.

I'll go along with you, JD, and add:

alyssum - way overused, it makes me sneeze, and it's just kinda ugly IMO
Bird of Paradise, unless it's used in a tropical setting - also overused here
large white calla lily - screams 'funeral' - when I worked in a hospital we used to groan when they were delivered to our patients. For some reason, the smaller colored varieties don't have that effect on me.

My votes:
Leyland cypress - used way too much; there are better screening options than a towering wall of green.
Trumpet trees - Brugmansia - too tropical for "regular" gardens; also overused here
Wax leaf begonias - look fake

crabgrass
crabgrass
crabgrass

all weeds especially clover. Its my nemisis. Its every where. Its taking over my thyme, and its just everywhere.
aspargus ferns. same thing.
and my stupid morning glory that actually planted

There are many plants I find easy to admire on someone else's property and morning glory is one of them. I did plant it in pots to climb along with the Mandevilla vines in this container and just hope the birds don't spread the seeds.

Bradford flowering pear trees--waaaay overused
Petunias--local businesses need to come up with something different
Indian hawthorn--local businesses are the guilty culprits again

Hi, new here.

Hibiscus - because they are so huge and, in my area, barely bloom before frost arrives.
The ground cover someone planted 20some years ago along my garage where I have my main flowerbed. Been fighting that stuff for years without hope.
Daffodils after they bloom. Previous owners also planted lots of them along the garage. I have been moving them to other areas but still have a lot.
Well, have to go to work. You all have a great day. Lyn

Welcome, Lyn!

Ice plant ground cover is used around here a lot. People planted it thinking it would help with erosion and be fire safe. Trouble is, it takes tons of water and fertilizer to look good and the roots are not deep enough to anchor the soil. Looks pretty in the spring when the hills are all magenta, that's about it.

Red geraniums, I hate the way they smell.

Yellow forsythia, I don't like their color.

Yellow daffodils, guess why.

shadowgarden - I used to feel that way about the color orange. Now I've reformed and I enjoy it. One of the many nice things about specific colors in the garden is that if we don't like them we don't have to have them.

pirl, I also didn't care for orange. Then 2 yrs ago I saw a couple of orangey plants I like. Now I have a "hot" border of orange and yellow plants! And I don't like magenta, but somehow I now have several plants in that color. Go figure....

One of my neighbors hates orange and visits every year when the orange Asiatic lilies are in bloom. She stands, arms crossed, stares at them and repeats her mantra of "I hate orange". She could look at the other 29 gardens but I guess she's just born to complain.

On the other hand I don't like weeds or dead plants but I don't go over with arms crossed and visit each garden telling her what I don't like.

She won't like one of the new Asiatic lilies at all!

i dont like monkey grass , its in every yard . and berberry i dont know how you spell that . we had 3, 5 footers we pulled out . ferns are ok but im getting tired of everyone talking about them around here. i get it ,we are country and you need them hanging from your porch . try a pretty hanging basket for a change . sorry . lol
junipers , burning bushes are in every yard . theres also an azalea and a dogwood in every yard here but i like those . my neighbor has a mimosa tree and i love how it looks but for goodness sakes sweep the sidewalk . have you ever tried to push a stroller in that mess . weeds dont bother me that much i ignore them . and only pull them when they are tall enough to pull with out kneeling .lol

I have some burnt orange day lilies I really like. Me and my Monarch butterflies can't live without our beautiful orange butterfly weed either.

Only three?

Ok, I'll bite-

1) Forsythia-we just yanked out out of the back that we had been cutting back to almost nothing every year, only to have it get 7' tall again. Oh..and every single little green twig that fell on the ground is now a rooted plant..arghh!!! Pretty, but just too overwhelming. It is being replaced with a Buffalo currant..still gets pretty yellow spring flowers, but they smell nice AND make edible fruit.


2) Creeping charlie..is this stuff immortal? It's like the mythical hydra..I cut off one strand, and it seems like seven more replace it.

3) The annual salvia sold at garden centers in purple and red. I just plain don't get it's appeal..and it's also WAY overused.

I could add to this list: anything with thorns that doesn't give me berries/fruit in return for my pain and suffering incurred while tending to it (this means you, barberry bushes that are only still living 'cause my fiance likes you for some strange reason..)
The ajuga someone planted in the front beds years ago that is now all over in the lawn
Datura-for being so easy for everyone else to grow, yet impossible for me to even germinate

I should have added this at the beginning: Palm Trees
They're everywhere here. Everywhere.

Oh, yes. And what we hate to see is when the cities pull out shade trees and replace them with 30 foot palms! How about choosing the right trees in the first place?

"I should have added this at the beginning: Palm Trees
They're everywhere here. Everywhere."


Now them's fightin' words to someone who lives in zone 5 and spends half of her vacation drooling over that which she cannot have at least not in the yard, anyway! ;-)
Just kidding..I feel the same way about maple trees and their little "helicopter" seeds.

Oh those maple seedlings! They are truly maddening.

I'd trade Maple seeds for flying 12 foot palm fronds in a split second.

Okay, okay - you win!

Hmmmm...speaking of trees...
Here in the mid west, from the time just before the cottonwood fuzz is flying, there is a thick heavy sap that falls from the trees and with it the seeds. WARNING! don't park your car anywhere near one of these trees then...the sap is like cement and it takes a zillion car washes for the stuff to come off...and then if you leave your car too long, the sap will be gooy enough to allow the cottonwood fuzz to adhere to the car then you'll be driving away in a powder puff...ROFL!
No Joke...learned my lesson the hard way!

My pecan tree does that. i get in trouble every yr . i park under it because its close to the walk.

Marigolds, I hate them, my husband loves them. He would plant them like little soldiers all in a row. I can't stand the smell.

Houttuynia and artemisia for it's invasiveness. I do like the looks of both, but they just take over.

I vote no on artimesias ,Why dont the classify them as a weed. Its the deadheading to keep them under controle that drives me nuts.

I'm anti Marigolds - WAY over used and they stink. I could say the same for Houttuynia but, thankfully, they're not over used but the stench reminds me of the bean dinner on "Blazing Saddles".

Silver Mound artemesia is fine and I have had Limelight in the past (ripped it out) and can't believe I bought it again but this time for a pot. It was supposed to be mixed with others but now I think I'll leave it in a pot all by itself. Is that the one that needs deadheading, Jo Ann?

I miss spoke. Its Anthemis the one with yellow flowers.
I cant believe I bouhght it twice in my lifetime.
Let me check to be sure I have the right plant this time.
I also have to move the hose.

Yep its anthemis.

It's well behaved here, most thankfully. It does require a ton of deadheading to keep it in bloom.

My artemisia stands about 8 inches tall, and spreads by runners. No seeds. A friend gave it to me a few years ago, and she has heavier soil, and says it doesn't run for her. It's very pretty for bouquets. At least it smells nice when I'm pulling all those runners out. I know it's not Silver Mound. I had that one for a few years and loved it, but it's only marginally hardy here.

Mine spreads by runners. If it spread via seed I'd have a million plants...would you believe a thousand?

Oh this is too funny, I thought I was the only with dislikes because everyone has that stinking plant/tree in their yard.....rofl.

What a wonderful start to morning, knowing I'm not nuts........

thanks all

Janet
Bradford flowering pear trees are my strong dislikes....

Ohh...you mean the "catpee-trees"?

I forgot about those..I lived in an apt that had one of those in the yard..my ex and I spent a few days looking for the cat pee in the house the first spring I was there and had the windows open. We then realized it was the smell of the stupid, stinking flowering tree outside.. why ANYONE would deliberately plant something that has a faintly-cat-pee-esque scent is beyond me!

Boxwood blooming sends me to change the litterbox daily until I figure out whats going on.

My sense of smell was greatly diminished when I had an operation in 2001 so maybe I should be very grateful since we have boxwoods in the back, along with pines and I understand they give off an unpleasant odor at times, along with a Bradford Pear in the front.

My husband is doing battle with a forsythia - I don't mind it because it is in back of the garage between us and the neighbors but they do grow like crazy. I agree about the maples, we got rid of 2 huge ones a few years ago - now we actually have grass and flowers in our front yard. lol I have some ajuga,too and a ground cover (ugly) that someone planted years ago. Was just outside trying to deal with all the daffodil plants now that they are not blooming. They were here when we moved in 20 some years ago and I am trying to move them to areas I don't want for other plants. (wherever that is!!) Got to go to work. You all have a great day. Lyn