Oh don't fret (too much) - I myself have carefully nurtured some bloody english ivy seeds this year, hoping I was looking at nice acer seedlings! And many times, I have tenderly potted up some impressive garden growth for it to end up as a willowherb or such.

We may have all done that or something similar. I babied along what I thought was self sown tricyrtis one Spring - until they were a couple of inches tall and it became clear they were not. I still don't know what the seedlings were, suspect something from my neighbors bird feeder on the other side of the fence.

No, no Kevin - NOT dumb, just not fully informed.

Sorry you lost your BB but they produce billions of seeds, are easily grown from seed via winter sowing and grow up to be much more hardy than their nursery-grown relatives. I'll gladly save seeds for you this fall from my 'Black Knight' plants (all were grown from seed via WS).

Sorry you lost your butterfly bush. Mine have been declining the last few years, too, and we had no polar vortex to contend with here. Your new Veronicas should look good there.

When I first moved here, I thought I was lucky to have chrysanthemums coming up all over the place. Am I the only one that thinks the foliage of a small ragweed looks like a mum? I never saw ragweed in my life, and never knew I was allergic to any kind of pollen, but yeah, very allergic to the hundreds of ragweeds blooming all around my house that first year.

If that's the dumbest thing you do this year you're in great shape. The season is still young though :)

That's totally easy to imagine, both the secret plant swap and your own reaction after lovingly tending a weed for several weeks. Great story and I agree with Kato, on the scheme of things, actually not very dumb at all. Thanks for sharing the human side of gardening!

No Kevin, you're not soooooooooo dumb, just sooo dumbsize>. ;)

Actually I think I've made this same mistake myself.

I've carefully nurtured more than a few weeds myself.

On the other side of the coin, I was just about to rip a weed out today. Fortunately it got buds yesterday. It was my Coreopsis 'Mercury Rising'! I had planted it last year and assumed it didn't make it through the winter. I am quite pleased (and relieved I was late on weeding!)

Gotcha beat by 2. I've been watering and nurturing two buckthorns for a couple of years! One grew in exactly the spot where I thought I'd planted a small tree. The other was in an area where'd I'd planted at least a dozen shrubs. This had roundish leaves...it could have been a hydrangea...it really could have.
But I saw those tiny greenish buds and shook my head. You're kinda hard on yourself, but public self-flagellation can inspire a sympathic response and some more good stories.

Yes, I like the good stories. Keep 'em coming.

It's kind of weird how the minds work. I know the difference between a Nightshade and just about anything else. Lord knows I've pulled enough of them out of the garden! Because this one was growing right smack where the Buddleia was growing I didn't really, really look at it. Of course it was the Buddleia. There was no question. Oh yes, I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago I took cuttings from the thing and have anxiously waiting for them to form roots so I would have lots of Buddleias! After I realize my mistake, that pot-full of cuttings got tossed quicker than you can imagine.

I'm not terribly bummed. I get over my plant losses quickly and I did need the space.

Kevin

No, dumb is thinking to oneself "hmmm, gotta be careful, the sprinkler line is RIGHT HERE" and then not two minutes later sinking a spade into said sprinker line...

And hey, now you have an excuse to go buy another butterfly bush! :0) (whereas I had to call the sprinkler company for a repair...)

I have made the sprinkler mistake and the weed nurturing mistake. I laughed at the weed mistake but the pvc pipe error made me mad. I knew there was a pipe there and I was being so careful.Turns out there are three lines of pipe in that area. Joke is on me.

When I bought my first house in the winter in MN, that first spring I was so excited about my Lamb's Ear patch. Well...you can probably guess what happened later. Mullein.

I've done this on more than one occasion - probably more occasions than I'd care to admit in public, actually, lol. And I'm sure most of us have done the same thing.

My brother-in-law two years ago nurtured and babied what he thought were marigolds in his window boxes. Yep, you guessed it - weeds. We still tease him about window boxes and marigolds...

:)
Dee

It's sooo much better to nurture a weed for a couple of weeks (so easy to undo). I pulled out all but one of the Platycodon that I had started from seed the season before. I hadn't learned to recognize them, and they are late to emerge, so I thought they were weeds. There's no undo button for THAT.

I was so proud of the purple wildflower that was growing all down the driveway. Then a neighbor told me it was silver nightshade, very toxic and an invasive weed. So I have done the weed thing too.

But I did something really stupid. I have lusted after New Mexico privet (forestiera neomexicana) since I saw it growing in a nursery a couple of years ago. I recently found one that I could afford and ran off with it skipping with glee. Except that the leaves looked strangely familiar and not quite what I had expected.

Right outside a bedroom window is what I call the trash tree. It's planted too close to the house so various people, including us, have hacked pieces of it off, none too gracefully. Other bits have rooted where they touched the ground so it was a very messy tree which was going to come out when we got to it.

You can see it coming - it's a NM privet. I could have dug a piece out and planted it any time in the past 2 years. Now that is dumb.

Cheryl

So many of these stories boil down to plant recognition skills. The longer you garden the easier it becomes. Time spent really observing plants pays off in saved frustration. In the meantime don't pull until it's identified. The Name That Plant Forum here on GW is at your service ;-)

There is a limit to every plant and the lack of thriving is not always the fault of the gardener.

My buddlea are thriving here in zone 7 (MD), as they should. That they don't always in your area is not their or your fault.

luckyladyslipper, you just reminded me that I have done the same thing.... TWICE. Twice with the same plant! I planted a - I don't even remember what it was! - in my friend's garden, and then "weeded" it out that fall. I didn't realize till the next spring that I did that. Got another one of the plants, planted it, and once again, "weeded" it out!

The second time I pulled it out, I realized what I had done immediately. I replanted it and babied it all year, but it died. Which made me wonder why if you pull a weed and just toss it back on the top of the bed it will re-root and grow spectacularly, but why this plant, lovingly replanted and tended to, died.....

Dee

Personally, I find nightshade rather attractive ... always have.

Don't know how many plants I 've lost up at my folks' place because my dad decided to weed.