you need 5 acres of former horse pasture...

you will take ANYTHING .. just to fill space ...

even if it means spending 5 or 10 years destroying it.. once you understand the mistake you made .. lol ..

but.. i do remember the space limited days of suburbia ...

and that would bring back memories of lilac and snowball bush [some kind of viburnum]... growing bigger than the garage ....

so for me.. it was size potential ... who knew about rejuvenation pruning back them .. lol ...

forsythia also .... a lot of the old fashioned flowering shrubs .... ooooo... honeysuckle bush .... weigelia .... etc ...

this was all 60's and 70's ... now with all the dwarf.. and the variegated ones.. its not as bad ... [the variegation dwarfs them also ... compared to the old green monsters]

ken

I grew hardy hibiscus from seed via winter sowing. Some years they come up & bloom; other years they don't. I'm glad to see them when they decide to show their faces but due to my laissez faire attitude am not terribly disappointed when they don't.

I try to avoid planting things that are toxic to the touch which is why I've denied myself monkshood all the years I've gardened here and wasn't overly disappointed when winter sown foxglove didn't return one spring.

While the 6-8 ft. tall Miscanthus cultivars leave me unmoved, I love my dwarf ornamental grasses for their contrasting form/texture & elegant habit that makes them stand out at either end of my granite garden bench. Their gentle, arching form lends a softer look to the granite. I also appreciate that they retain their form through the cold weather.

Due to its invasive habit, I've eradicated all the burning bush (Euonymus alatus) that was growing here when I moved in. Can't say I don't admire its bold, fiery presence in neighbors' gardens this time of year however. I also removed the forsythia that was growing unchecked here 10 years ago.

I admire & covet Japanese maples in others' gardens but will honestly admit I haven't really hit on the appropriate location for one in any of my own garden beds.

Things 'Not allowed to the party' in my garden generally include anything I find annoying, too labor-intensive to maintain and anything that doesn't serve the needs of pollinators. I named my garden La Musardiere--which is French for 'A place to be idle.' Once I designed it, planted it, had granite walks laid down, I just wanted to step back and enjoy it.

Lilacs of any sort.

I'm sure happy everyone else grows them because the flowers are one of my all-time-favorites, but I will not allow them on the property. Too big, too ugly when not in bloom, too many suckers etc. etc. etc.

Some of the dwarfs are slightly better, but they smell like burning plastic to me when in bloom - at least the ones I've encountered - but I'm not a lilac expert - maybe there are better ones out there. I'm just not motivated to find them.

Kevin

My plants non grata are mostly ones with the type of seeding that creates invasive potential. I live in the woods on old farmland and already have way too many invasives, so I don't want to add more.So for me, they include any non-native maple that I have observed seeding around and Euonymus. There may be others that I can't think of at the moment.

There are certain plants whose odor I find truly repellent. I could never grow Carol Mackie daphne due the scent (which I know many folks find appealing.)

There are a whole passel of plants I don't much like due to running tendencies (evening primrose or Bishop's weed), homeliness, or inappropriateness in my site (bananas?!) but I can't say that I would never under any circumstances grow them if I moved or had a site that needed a vigorous runner.

Barberry. I *HATE* barberry. Every time I see a barberry I'm taken back to when I was a kid in the city and we had barberries rimming our porch --- red barberries littered with trash in an ugly grey concrete jungle.

Hmm, interesting thread! I'm a firm believer in (almost!) never say never, so I'd have to say that the only things I would absolutely not allow are invasives - houttuynia, aegopodium, honeysuckle, japanese barberry (as sorely tempting as it is!), the belles that are invasive - is it adenophora?? That type of thing.

Things that I don't foresee in my garden - not that I wouldn't allow them, but at this point I just don't see myself having - are tropicals. They just don't do much for me. I can (and do!) admire them in others' gardens, but as CMK said, they would look out of place in my woodsy garden, IMO.

Dee

Iris. 2 weeks of bloom, 50 weeks of fighting the grass that wants to grow amongst them. Not worth it.

Forsythia and burning bush. I have battled these in the past at former homes and they almost defeated me. Never again.

Yucca. I've killed them at other houses, trying to again.

Zinnia. Once burned with powdery mildew, I won't forget it.

And my all time No.1: WISTERIA!!! I had a wisteria that I seriously had nightmares about - its tendrils creeping down the chimney, prying their way around the windowsills into the house. That thing was monstrous with a trunk bigger than my thigh.

Cactus: They remind me of barren desert landscapes which are depressing to me. I know lots of people love that look. That's okay, just not for me.

Tall grasses: I have too much tall grass that grows wild around here. It drives me nuts popping up everywhere. I won't even plant ornamental grasses because of that.

mxk .. lol...

we had barberry ... lining the driveway that my basketball hoop was on ...

who knew b-ball involved bleeding.. lol ...

what was the deal with metro detroit parents and planting barbed plants where the kids hang out .... lol

ken

Being a serious plant geek, there's not much I limit :-) Common perennials that selfseed to the point of weediness are right up there - dame's rocket, red valerian, rose campion, Lunaria annua - and the usual invasive/aggressive culprits, like houttuynia, ivy, bishop's weed, some species of euphorbia.

Living in the PNW, we avoid a lot of the invasive problems other parts of the country deal with - no issues with barberries (which I adore), nandina (ditto), burning bush, honeysuckle, etc. I do have some personal dislikes I would never plant by choice - most rhododendrons (2 weeks of gaudy, in-your-face bloom followed by 11 and half months of a big green blob), rose of Sharon, shrubby potentilla, most junipers, flowering cherries and purple leaf plums (disease prone and as common as dirt).

But doesn't everyone have specific plant likes and dislikes? Wouldn't it be boring if we all liked the very same things?

Well, shoot. Five minutes with a trowell and the red valerian is contained for another six months. I remember my task of removing the oak leaves from the barberry that lined the driveway growing up, and we also had a bb hoop, so I don't have any barberry here. I also don't have anything that really needs to have acid soil to thrive, so that removes a lot of plants from my palette. No blueberries, or rhodies for sure, and I hate seeing all the yellow silver maples around here. Nothing is uglier than the many yellowed spireas with the insipid pink flowers that they try to produce as they slowly die. Everyone plants them around here, and they look terrible, and everyone seems to think that watering them more is what they need so they just get worse and worse...Ugh! And I am happy that my husband is allergic to juniper pollen, so I don't ever have to plant any of those juniper spreaders that eventually yellow as well. Maybe the foundation ones are even worse. There is a line of tall juniper trees of some sort in town that I like though as they are old and large and look like some cypress something out of a Van Gogh painting.

I don't foresee adding any plants that cause contact dermatitis. I currently am battling poison ivy in several areas, but I don't expect ever to add gas plant, lovely as it is, or tall ornamental grasses.

Ground covers and creeping rhizomes in general. Any new beds under trees that drop seeds.

burning bush - overplanted and invasive
junipers of any kind - contact dermatitis
barberry - thorny nightmare
Japanese maple - personal preference
Norway maple - overplanted, invasive and the ones with black leaves are UGLY
creeping blue atlas cedar - self explanatory
That's all I can think of for now!

Yucca. Trying to get rid of it results in a toss up of who will die first, you or the plant. Plus, the form of the plant doesn't seem to fit well with any other plants I enjoy.

Burning bush-invasive
Rose of Sharon-reseeding

Martha

Junipers. And Mahonia. I think both are ugly. And creepy in a gothic manner. Like they should be planted at The House of Usher.

Houttunynia is not invited to my gardens anymore. It came along with some daylilies we got from a friend. I didn't know what they were at the time, but started to notice these were growing everywhere. Maybe one day I'll dig up the plants I want to keep, and cover the area where the invasive plants are and put some cardboard down. I wouldn't recommend this plant to anyone. Its horribly invasive.

As littlebug5 said, it's Chinese wisteria. DO NOT PLANT THIS. They should be illegal to import, plant, sell, give away, or propagate. I had one growing unobtrusively for 15 years. Then, as it reach maturity, it decided to spread. It had covered more than an acre before I realized what was happening. That was 5 years ago and I still have to spray roundup on the shoots three times a year to keep it down. This stuff can literally steal your property.

Interesting to read everyone's preferences. Personally, I hate yew bushes/trees.

When we moved in to our house the driveway was lined with yews and our neighbor was MORE than eager to help us rip them out with his truck. My guess was he was tired of looking at the homely things myself, since they were not managed well and a few of them were dead. The previous owners had also planted one in a garden bed next to the house and it was tall enough that it held moisture against the house and rotted one of the windows. Thankfully we were able to replace the windows in that room this year. It was such a terrible eyesore, and seen from the street. Going to plant a rose that will be more manageable in it's place.

Even when yews are healthy & trimmed well, they just bore me. I don't need anything green in winter.... it's such a dull green anyway, it does nothing for me. Anyways, clearly I need to state how I really feel about them.

That's really the only thing that's never allowed in my garden. Other things I just prefer more over others, but I'd never say never on much else. I have noticed my interests are always changing. Especially with colors I'm drawn to.

Fun thread: not invited in my garden are yuccas, opuntias, cacti that makes one think of a western movie. Strange, since I live in Texas. Hate vines in general though I've made allowances for a couple of clematises and a confederate jasmine that is fiercely controlled in an espalier. My last unwelcome is anything in a weeping shape, ie weeping willow, weeping forms in conifers. Weeping forms make me think of people with slumped shoulders, whom I find depressing. Plants shaped that way have the same effect on me .

Peony..... Not allowed in my yard. 1-2 weeks of flowers that flop. A good rain ruins them. Not worth the space they take up. After the blooming you end up with unappealing foliage.

I agree the large hibiscus look out of place in the midwest.

Sherry

I am new to the garden web and my list includes potentilla and juniper, it is used by every local mall to spruce up their parking lot and is ugly .Petunias also make the list a totally over rated annual

Ursula

bossyvossy, well hump! LOL. The ranger's got a whole slew of them there cowboy plants here but people either love em or hate em and they usually make no apology for hating them. They make great plant sculpture and the blooms in May and June are jaw dropping, cars actually slow down and people stare. They look good in fall for bright red pears and in winter too, they turn all kinds of cool purples and add tons of interest and look great contrasting with the grasses. Sometimes I put on the soundtrack of "Once Upon a Time in the West" on the speaker system when I'm gardening. Makes the neighbors laugh.

Sherrygirl, Peonies are way up there on the not invited list for me too along with 'corporate office building plants' ie, daylily of any flavor or those big, over-bred blousey, gaudy phlox hybrids. For that matter, anything sterile with a cutsey name, trademark or patent, that is so hybridized as to be a sissified neutered wimp thats supposed to look like a movie star with ridiculous breast implant flowers is not invited to this party. Plants like that remind me of domestic cattle, they can't mate or have calves without human assistance and they are bred for one purpose only. The whole concept creeps me out.

TX, LOL!!! Tell us what you really think.

Me , I am easy but Pampas grass is forbidden . I have had my arms ripped to shreads by them 10 too many times. Running bamboo, Broke my opal ring digging out runners,, daffodils ( look like a sore thumb in my landscape), ruella (invasive that spat a seed right in my eye), any boring hedge bush (Yawn).

Yep, wantomara, I'd outlaw any plant that spits in my eye too :)

-Ursula, yes! I absolutely loathe Potentilla. There is nothing aesthetically pleasing about that plant to my eye.

I have mixed feelings on barberry and juniper. Both are very useful for certain applications. Some of the more unique ones are kind of nice. Its one of those situations where you wonder if you would like them more if they weren't so overused in general landscape.
CMK

wantanamara, well, just perhaps I might have gone a bit overboard but as gardeners we each plant what we like and from where I sit some remarks come off as snobby. As a result every now and then I get somewhat defensive after reading so many negative comments about plants that are labeled invasive or weedy simply because they produce volunteers along with comments that seem to suggest that sterile cultivars are always superior to the parent plants and indicate a more sophisticated gardener. Around here, the party is always "come as you are" informal but lots of fun.

Hi ubro - Welcome to GW! I am relatively quite new here too. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This is more a case of I wish I had not invited this one to the party. Ajuga, bugleweed has become a plant that I can toss and feel no qualms about doing so.
Having said that, I will still keep some around since it is useful in some cases. It is my own fault for letting it get out of control. The plant just grows so quickly!

peren.all - what type of ajuga did you plant? I have ordered a flat of Chocolate Chip ajuga to add to my pollinator garden for spring. It's so pretty... I can't imagine pulling it!

Michaela

This post was edited by thegardenat902 on Tue, Jan 13, 15 at 18:52

thegardenat902 - It is A. reptans that is a nuisance. I had other named varieties that died out under Butternut trees.
I do have an old mini called 'Wrinkles and Crinkles" (it was a gift and I was told that was the name) and it is much better behaved.
A. 'Chocolate Chip' sounds nice. I am a fan of the foliage colour. Perhaps someone here has been growing it for a while.

Glad to hear that one wasn't the troublemaker. Hope you are able to get yours under control! I am constantly riping out Oxeye Daisy.... at first I loved how vigorous it was... now I just hate it.

Sarcococca confusa.... one of the dullest evergreens to spend one's life with... nice scented flowers for about 2 weeks about the end of January... I mean who wants to be out there then...? followed by 50 weeks where it takes up a valuable space that even in the shadiest border, something more interesting could be found...
.... I still have it, but in a pot in the greenhouse where if weather permitting, we might come face to face... after which it conveniently disappears....
...I wish I loved it more...

This post was edited by Marlorena on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 2:30

Ditto to the Pampas grass, also ivy and Passion Flower vine. Also something I have not yet identified, looks like a climbing fern, but needs little or no water and is invasive as heck. Thorns, too!

I have noticed a common thread here today. Plants that have caused injury are generally not invited. For me that means barberry and roses, yes roses. I love them in other yards but not in mine. To me not worth the blood sacrifice to have them.
I get texas ranger liking his grasses alot. If I lived in Texas they would be my favorite, cactus would take some serious thought, blood sacrifice whether accidental or not.
The older I get the less a like the free seeders like echinacia( spelling) and similar plants. Lower maintenance is my favorite now. I am also a fan of plants with few pest problems.
I hate yews. A bad winter here gives them winter burn and you have brown foliage to look at forever.

Sherry

I have had Chocolate Chip Ajuga for going on 7 years and it is well behaved. If it moves more than you like, just pull it up or dig up around the outside of the area where you want it. I have no problem getting rid of extra pieces since the neighbors like it too!

Plants that I don't want here are some of the usual suspects:
Bouncing Bet - still pulling and spraying starts after several years
Species Hardy Geranium - also pulling out new seedlings several
feet from the original plant. It only blooms for a short time and
then spreads its seed and runners all over the place.
Obedient Plant - never tried Miss Manners yet though
Bishops Weed
Older Variety Purple Coneflowers-I grow the newer different colored ones and do not have a problem pulling the few volunteers that come up. The older pink ones were a disaster to keep from seeding every where.
Goldsturm Rudbeckia-a few plants tried to take over a whole bed. In two years, I had several plastic garbage bags full when we dug them up to give away.

Linda