Hasn't really been certain plants that pulled me relentlessly in but more of a 'gotta add more to the garden' gene that pops up and overrides my better judgment. I started out with a single Baptisia/false indigo plant and at last count had 5. Hellebores/Lenten roses ate a hole in my grocery list for the past few years--I think I had half a dozen at last count. Ornamental grasses captured the limelight for a couple of years but I overcame the obsession before turning my garden beds into the coastal/African veldt.

I dipped my toe into the fern obsession but gave up before spending too much $$ when several of them had less-than-stellar years in my garden beds. Would have gone over the top adding blanket flower & black-eyed Susan/rudbeckia cultivars until I saw how the BF flopped--not my preferred look at all. The BES cultivars weren't truly perennial and lasted fewer than 3 seasons.

I survived a Peony Phase when I bought & planted a few dozen named cultivars even though peonies were already growing here since I was in high school (time line checkpoint: Peter, Paul & Mary in concert).

If there's a light at the end of this tunnel, it's that I possessed the wherewithal to halt the hosta train after planting quite a few less than 50 named cultivars. Q: does that mean I'm in remission?

Weakness/Kryptonite plant(s): hosta, baptisia, peony, hellebore

Last autopilot plant purchase: hellebore (several)

Most of the Gallardia cultivars are a result of breeding between the perennial Gallardia aristada and the annual Gallardia pulchella. G. pulchella passes on its short lived genetics to the offspring along with its long time blooming power. So...thats why your blanket flower plants didn't last long, most of them are short lived.

I only grow the native annual Gallardia pulchella. I love it and think it needs no improvement. They bloom non-stop without slowing down all season and are neat, one ft. tall plants. Mine are still covered with blooms and there's lots of babies ready to go for next year coming up close by.

I recently read that some annual Gallardia's make neat mounds while others flop and are unruly so be sure to collect seed from well behaved plants. I guess this seed I bought is from some of the good ones. I got seeds from Plants of the Southwest.

Since the topic of this thread is compulsive buying, maybe its a good thing when its a short lived plant? It opens up an empty planting spot for something new you just have to have like we all seem to do.

Personally, I run out of planting spots so when this sort of die out occurs it gives me a good excuse or reason to have to get something new, something I NEED rather than something I just want or at least I can say that.

Here is a compulsion I have. Have you ever wanted a plant so badly that when you finally do get it or it finally gets mature after a long wait, you find that you are unable to toss a single volunteer seedling since it was something seemingly elusive and obsessed about so long? I end up saving these babies and planting them in pots since I just cannot bring myself to toss any of them. I never quite get past that memory of the original obsession and they still seem too rare or valuable to me to toss even though I have no place for them.

-gardenweed, "If there's a light at the end of this tunnel, it's that I possessed the wherewithal to halt the hosta train after planting quite a few less than 50 named cultivars."

LOL!! Too funny. You made my day ;-)
CMK

Hmmm, geums - yep, they have me too. I was able to avoid G.rivale because mt dry sandy allotment was hopeless, but a shoo-in for the chiloense.....but moving to a woodland, with native wood avens around, I forsee another creeping obsession (and I know primula are going to be there - many, many species I have craved). Still, these things come and go - dieramas are still to the fore, have 11 species and cultivars so far, while species roses have never really fallen out of favour - although there have been 3 main rose cycles - currently in withdrawal with only 1 new rose (although I made up for quantity by going for a truly gigantic and epic rose - Paul's Himalayan musk) and obviously, a rambling rose fad is about to come into being. Tulips, which do so well on my allotment, have also ground to a halt but not before growing several thousand bulbs, both species and cultivars - my largest annual spending spree was the spring bulb order (alliums and lilies and an expensive and depressing obsession for fritillaries)

This year though, I am completely out of control, growing trees. In fact the whole seed sowing thing has ramped up to insane levels....although I am taking a Darwinian outlook with these, expecting a vast rate of attrition since they are going to have to compete with the woody weeds (there are billions, so obviously, my usual daisy grubbing is NOT going to work here)....but we must have flowers, right?

Actually, my kryptonite plants have become my autopilot plants! I know I can't win the battle anymore so I just buy them and don't torture myself.

I'd say the worst has to be variegated hostas. I mean really, do I really need every one ever bred? I have more willpower with the white/green ones, but the yellow/cream/chartreuse & green ones? Forget it. No use arguing with myself anymore, so into the cart it goes. So what if it looks like the 20 other ones I just bought last season?

Dee

As always an interesting thread CMK.

For me it is anything P E R S I C A R I A

So far we have:

- ground cover "Dimity"
- "Bistorta" with it wonderful pink flowers
- deep shade tolerant "Painters Palette"
- the monster "Polymorpha"
- the petite but very lovely "Evening Star"
- and my favourite "Golden Arrows" (*6* plants we have in various locations!)

CMK - happy as always to give you a chuckle.

Dee - check out 'Kiwi Full Monty' on the Hosta Library website (see link) but for heaven's sake don't buy it--come on up to my little green acre & take a few divisions home. I bought it at O'Brien Hosta in Granby several years ago. It's been one of the most amazing of my named cultivars.

Here is a link that might be useful: H. Kiwi Full Monty

-Dee and gardenweed, you must have some nice hostas in your collection! I must say, hostas have never held much fascination for me. There is one though that continues to haunt my thoughts...naturally it is like a hundred and some dollars, LOL.

Hosta 'Mito-no-hana': HERE

Another Kryptonite plant for me...Polygonatum. I don't have many, but if I happen across any unusual ones you best believe I'm going to scoop that baby up!! Lol. Same with Corydalis now I think of it...
CMK

This post was edited by christinmk on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 23:36

Seriously, gardenweed?! I admit to my addiction and the first thing you do is direct me to the Hosta Library?! ... thank you! LOL! I'll look later this evening when I have more time because I know I will get sucked into browsing, as usual!

Wow, CMK, what an unusual hosta! VERY different!

Dee

epimediums are creeping in again..............I predict penniless head-hanging, hidden bank statements, misdirection (aka lying), hastily arranged decoy pots....ramping up to injured innocence, over-emphasising all those 'free' seedlings and divisions (hence money saved) until I have to bring out the big guns - raised eyebrows and meaningful glances towards the (hugely) expensive chainsaw and ridiculous swedish axes.

A discussion we have had so many times, we could probably just make a tape and press rewind every few months.

I have to have it -- Quercus turbinella (Scrub Live Oak). I just ran across it night before last looking for something else which seems to happen all the time. One thing always leads to another..... Its yet another climate zone stretch native not offered in the trades which is my biggest weakness and now I am on the hunt for anyone out there with acorns. I need this. Its blue, its wild, its drought hardy and its unusual, whats not to love?

Anyone out there in the Southwest with acorns?

I spent Sunday afternoon working to organize all those seeds that would fill my too-small-lot ten times over that I have been obsessively collecting. They are now safely stored in smaller packets with labels so its not quite quite so confusing and daunting. At least they take up a lot less space and aren't in danger of falling out of folded paper towels, lids or coat pockets. I must get this addiction organized somehow.

Oaks are cool! I just don't have the room for any.... Same goes for beech trees, I've imagined my collection many a time, looked up sources, picked out affordable specimens, and then did nothing (luckily)
My kryptonite is bulbs. Fall is the worst season for me and now that clearance sales are approaching I keep having to remind myself that I don't need a couple hundred tulips to plant. Today's snow helps but sometimes it just means I'll consider potting them up and overwintering in the garage.
Hellebores are too expensive for me, I've had to resort to seeds which means waiting a couple years.... But it also means in a few years I'll have way too many.... But until then I add more every year :)
Oh cyclamen too... And snowdrops.... And alliums
And phlox. But in my defense I left several phlox at the nursery this fall, and this clearly shows that I'm not really addicted to that plant.
I planted out the last of my seedlings from winter 2013 yesterday. Today I was already eyeing a couple packets of cyclamen and allium seeds. If I sow them this weekend they won't even need attention until next fall. That barely counts as a new plant.

-kato, yeah bulbs are addictive! 2007 was my 'Year of the Tulip, Lol.

Just curious, where do you get your Hellebore seeds from? Trade or some online source?
CMK

My autopilot plant is clematis. I have at least ten in holding beds waiting for a permanent placement and several seedlings growing on in the same holding bed, and yet, I am already thinking about my annual spring trip to Donahues to choose more.

Kryptonite is more difficult to identify for me. Hellebores have peaked my interest this year but I have restrained myself to just one new plant because I have no place to put them...but...I want more.

After reading the post on geums I think they might become my Kryptonite though I am sure I can find a place for them, somewhere.

I just don't have the room for any.... Same goes for beech trees,

'kato', you and I share the same love of...trees ;).

When the time comes I want to be buried under a copper beech...magnificent trees.

I donâÂÂt have any âÂÂKryptoniteâ plants, but if I had a larger property, I could definitely have one with roses. I have childhood memories of a few enchanting old rose gardens that propel me in that direction. But I did get the âÂÂfrugalâ gene and I would have a hard time paying unreasonable prices for a plant, even if I really wanted it.

âÂÂAutopilotâ plants, maybe. I automatically look for epimedium, ferns, hellebores, bleeding hearts, tiarellas and I add some every year. I donâÂÂt feel guilty about it though, because I still have plenty of shady spots that need those plants. IâÂÂm starting to be automatic with clematis too. Clematis though, are hard to collect, since you have to have vertical support for them.

I also love trees and if I had a large property, I would be buying a lot of trees and having a wonderful time doing it. Our family had a property that had a 50 year old copper beech on it, it was massive! Loved it.

IâÂÂve added bulbs most years, but now IâÂÂm having to try different kinds because IâÂÂm almost out of room for more daffodils. I tried Leucojum for the first time this year, and excited to see how those will work out in spring.