Talkback: Most hated plants - Page 3 - Talkback

20/11/2009 at 09:09

I thought I liked buttercups till I got my first garden. I also dislike ostespermum - no smell & I've never known anything need so much deadheading. I will happily admit to adoring impatiens in my awkwardly sized, shady border. Planted in May, and they are still flowering, and I've not had to deadhead once. I've taken cuttings to use the same colour scheme of blues, purples and white again next year.

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20/11/2009 at 09:35

I like geraniums around the garden all summer; in pots or in hanging baskets but I will not have them in the house or greenhouse for the winter as I hate the smell. I am sure this is because the boarding Convent school I went to as a child had geraniums everywhere including the dormitories' windowsills all winter. The nuns were obsessed with saving them all !

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20/11/2009 at 09:44

It's very true that your tastes change and develop as you garden for longer - I used to hate mahonias but inherited one in my garden and now really appreciate its glossy foliage, berries and bright flowers in winter. I loathe alstroemerias though - they just look wrong in English light! As for poinsettias, don't get me started....

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20/11/2009 at 10:06

I hate creeping buttercup - more like galloping buttercup! And dandelions. Love honeysuckle and aquilegias and roses and fuscias and pinks - plants that grow happily and profusely in my garden

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20/11/2009 at 10:12

Hmm. I have to say I'm not that keen on Fuchsias. But then they never seem that keen on me! Pampas grass is a common nightmare round here. Everyone had it when it was fashionable but in the meantime the plants have outgrown our affections and the places they occupy. I know someone who enquired of the local 'yobs' if they could wait til she was out and then set fire to the one in her front garden! On the plus point, I do rather like Achemillas for their groundcovering qualities, weeds like MYOB don't stand a chance against an established clump. And they are so lovely when there's dew or rain on the leaves. If you don't like the flowers, you could always cut them off! And heucheras in all their shades are an especial favourite. Who needs flowers when you have such an amazing variation in leaf colours?

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20/11/2009 at 10:18

I find that 'hate' can soon turn to love! I used to 'hate' Hemerocalis (Day Lilies) with a passion, but now I love 'em! Working in a Garden Centre I had plenty of time to admire these beautiful plants up close and appreciate them for what they are - gems! Same goes for Dahlias, and as for Begonias - well, I am well and truly hooked! Keep an open mind, I say!!

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20/11/2009 at 10:38

Muscari is my absolute hate plant. A couple of plants arrived in my garden (birds?) 20 years ago. They spread like mad and I'm still trying to get rid of the huge amounts that come up every year.

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20/11/2009 at 11:24

Oh dear, plants stir up such strong emotions! Here goes- I dislike impatiens, begonias, pampas grass, chrysanthemums, crocosmia. I'm sure they have their place but not in my garden. But love dahlias as my gran had them in her small garden. Pansies, roses, heliotrope as they smell wonderful and who can resist the fragrance of lilac or hyacinths. I love foliage plants, too - heuchera being my favourite at the moment. I could go on...!

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20/11/2009 at 11:27

Fromentodendrom (is that how one spells it?) How can anything with such a beautiful flowere be so unkind. Prune and you have eyes full of tiny little sharp spores,skin begins to itch, totally dangerous.

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20/11/2009 at 11:54

Physalis - Chinese lantern, although they are very pretty to look at they spread everywhere through borders like wildfire & choke everything else in sight

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20/11/2009 at 12:44

I hate ivy, they just spread everywhere and are a nightmare

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20/11/2009 at 13:16

I seem to have been 'lucky' enough to have inherited the plants I really hate every time we have moved house!! Probably didn't help that they were all inappropriately planted which made them seem worse. My least favourite are Aucuba, Pampas Grass, Eucalyptus (when planted in small gardens) & Leylandii. I also hate the Bindweed that our neighbours are 'cultivating' that comes under the fence.

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20/11/2009 at 13:20

I don't like grass - not the nice wavy kind that sounds like you rubbed 2 grasshoppers together. I mean the green stuff that needs mowing every 3 minutes, with edges that burst out of shape as soon as your backs turned. Remains wet when you want it dry and dries out to concrete if we have 2 consecutive dry days. And name me the mower that can cope with seed heads!!!

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20/11/2009 at 14:21

Tastes change so much as you go through life, I used to dislike big blousy roses and dahlias but I can now appreciate their beauty. However, I don't think I'll ever warm to anything "salmon pink" or overly ruffled, or dwarfed for that matter. Also the Russian Vine (Fallopia baldschaunica) is a hideous thing that will strangle all completition.

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20/11/2009 at 16:21

Not keen on roses - too many nasty prickly thorns. I do however like the scent of some of them.

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20/11/2009 at 18:23

I cannot stand those chocolate smelling flowers (Cosmos). Why would anybody want such unsuitable smelling plants in their garden?

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20/11/2009 at 19:36

I adore sweetpeas and acer sengkaku ( I think thats how its spelt!!! sweeppeas for scent and the acer for year round interest. I cannot stand ivy. reminds me of death!!!I also dislike cotoneaster horizontalis. Can't get rid of it. If its good for wildlife then I guess we could tolerate it...maybe!

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20/11/2009 at 19:57

I hate Fuschia they are so old fashioned - dont like tulips they're boring - dont like chrysanths remind me of funerals and often have horrible earwigs in them! I can take any kind of creepy crawly except them. Weeds are okay they cover up bald spaces in the garden and wildlife love them.

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20/11/2009 at 20:00

Bedding begonias, YUK !!

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20/11/2009 at 20:50

I hate blue roses and blue tulips - they were never meant to be. Also pink daffodils - spring is very much about the joyful yellows (& white with orange tips), and the reds of tulips. For some reason I cannot bear serried ranks of tagetes, ageratum, red salvia and alyssum.