If you’re not a paid subscriber to Gardenista and Remodelista, you’re in for a treat this month. Every Sunday until the end of the year, we’re opening up Quick Takes content—normally reserved for subscribers—to everyone. (You can learn more about Quick Takes here. And sign up for a paid subscription by clicking “Join” in the upper right corner of the homepage.)
Today, we’re sharing some of our experts’ answers to Quick Takes prompt “plant that makes you want to run the other way.” Naturally, invasives featured prominently in their answers. There were multiple votes for Japanese knotweed, long reviled by gardeners for its spread-and-conquer habit, and Vinca, too, a popular ground cover that is escaping into natural areas where it crowds out native vegetation. But there were also many surprises—including a nearly universal disdain for variegated plants. (Who knew?) Other commonalities we discovered from perusing their answers: a dislike of garish colors and an aversion to popular but pedestrian mainstays.
Below, the plants that our experts would never welcome into their own gardens.
Invasive Plants
“Bamboo. We’ve had jobs where we had to extract bamboo from containers and the roots are really gnarly. We are literally scared of bamboo.” —Corwin Green and Damon Arrington
“Callery pear tree (Bradford pear tree).” —Tama Matsuoka Wong
“Euonymus alatus. Why is it legal to sell this plant? How broken is horticulture that we can’t phase out plants causing actual harm? Get this guy out of the trade already.” —Rebecca McMackin
“Invasives like King Ranch bluestem, Arrundo, Vinca major.” —Christine Ten Eyck
“So many from the traditional “ground cover” category were touted as the solution to knit the garden together visually and lessen the workload. And many (most?) of them turned out to be thugs—though I still see a lot of them for sale. I don’t have the scourges of English ivy, Pachysandra, and Vinca, but despite all my incessant digging, will I ever be rid of yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon), or the worst of all, chameleon plant (Houttuynia cordata)?” —Margaret Roach
“Reynoutria japonica (Japanese knotweed) and vinca vine.” —Summer Rayne Oakes
Variegated Plants
“Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’. Of all variegated shrubs, this is the most difficult to live with. The brashness of its yellow makes it the loudest and worst-dressed guest in any garden, demanding attention.” —Dan Pearson
“I don’t go in much for leaves that are red or yellow or variegated as they often look sickly or like they’re trying too hard to make a point.” —Deborah Needleman
“Variegated, over-fussy leaves; hugely heavy double begonias with flowers so huge they hang their heads with the weight of petals; and double bedding pelargoniums with no nectar or pollen for pollinators.” —Sarah Raven
“Blocks of ‘Platinum Beauty’ Lomandra. I can’t quite get to grips with the ‘why’ of variegated grasses.” —Christian Douglas
“Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’ (Japanese spotted laurel).” —Butter Wakefield
Pedestrian Plants
“Roses—just never found myself enthusiastic about them, and not a fan of their scent or the maintenance required to care for them.” —Todd Carr
“Hosta, except for Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ which is so majestic.” —Wambui Ippolito
“For the past few years, most Dahlias. It’s not that I dislike Dahlias, I just feel bludgeoned by their incessant presence. We can’t live on a diet of twinkies alone…” —Taylor Johnston
“Crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia). It’s overused and under-useful for biodiversity.” —Edwina von Gal
“Canary pines! They were planted all over Southern California in the 1960s-1980s. I’d rather them be replaced with oaks or sycamores that would be more beneficial to the environment.” —Patrick Bernatz Ward
“Rose of Sharon.” —Emily Thompson
Garish Plants
“Anything red, my least favorite color, particularly bright red salvia prevalent in suburban gardens. Red in the garden is just too loud and jarring to my senses. There was a large red rambling rose on the side of the house when we moved in; let’s just say it is no longer there.” —Alex Bates
“After 20 years of being surrounded by thousands of plants every day, I’ll say… I just like plants. Plants I thought I didn’t care for have surprised me by turning up in places I don’t expect them looking perfectly lovely. What makes me want to run the other way are plant combinations. Mostly, multi-colored six packs of annual plants never end up looking beautiful in any context.” —Flora Grubb
“Lime next to burgundy? Now I’m just being snobby.” —Brook Klausing
“I’ve often thought that if forsythia didn’t flower so early, probably no one would countenance that beastly yellow later in the season when there are so many other things to delight us. This season I realized I’d had enough of its shaggy demeanor and clashing jolt of brightness against the soft, subtle colors of early spring. They’re getting evicted as soon as I have a moment”. —Deborah Needleman
“Red/burgundy Phormiums…No, no, no!” —Anastasia Sonkin
See also:
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
