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Successes and failures. New discoveries and never agains

B3B3 Posts: 27,505
in The potting shed
I think we're coming to the time when we can see whether what we've tried this year has been worth it.  Have you any new favourites or plants that are on death row?

I don't regret planting no tulips or wallflowers this year. I didn't have to wait for them to die off
.
I'm wondering about peonies. They take up a lot of space for a short flowering period.

 Grasses have been severely culled. I'm only keeping the ones I really like .
Courgettes take up an awful lot of space.
   On  a positive note cosmos xanthos.  Bushy subtle yellow polliator magnet. Found new geuns and geraniums.
Fancy tomatoes delish😋
In London. Keen but lazy.
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  • lilysillylilysilly Posts: 511
    Only a few new favourites for me this year. Agapanthus Twister finally flowered and was gorgeous , agapanthus Charlotte, a bargain basement plant from last autumn divided and repotted after purchasing was smothered in flowers. Salvia Amstrad for me is a stunner and its cuttings root so easily. 
    Annuals I grew from seed have been disastrous. Cosmos all healthy looking and bushy when planted out, collapsed and withered away. Slugs ate most of the other annuals like zinnia and nicotiana, my Sweetpeas were a failure, weedy and then attacked by something that turned the leaves to lace.
    I've already removed plants that just weren't worth it anymore. Geranium Wargrave Pink , too salmon coloured and sprawling, divided and potted up for the charity sale now, also most of geranium Johnson's Blue, only flowers the once so not worth the room. Geum Lady Strathwhatever is out, poor blooms, weak colour. The 2 honeysuckle have come out, the garden is just too hot and sunny and they haven't looked good for the last 3 summers. 
    I've already removed two peonies, variety Nymph, I just don't like that shade of pink anymore. I divided them and potted them up, they can go to the plant sale also. The bearded iris are coming out as well, not worth the space for a few flowers that last a week. I'm debating whether the hostas will stay another year, Devon slugs and snails seem to enjoy their Hosta leaves doused in garlic spray. 
    It actually feels good removing stuff when you finally decide its time is up, and then there is lots of space revealed for something new altogether.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Oh @lilysilly! A lot of hard lessons learnt this year But next year you know of plenty of plants to avoid. Sometimes it's cathartic to hoik stuff out and make room for plants that please you. Even healthy plants should go. Maybe someone on Freecycle or the like would want them or they'd make good compost😉

    I spent many years tending plants that I didn't like. They were left by the previous owners. When I think about it, they were all the kind of plants that you get in a newspaper multiple offer😐
    One day,I decided enough is enough. This is my garden! I dug them all out. I've never regretted it.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Joyce21Joyce21 Posts: 15,489
    Ipomoea Lobata, Spanish Flag, was slug and snail fodder so wont grow it again.
    SW Scotland
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Neveragains: are honeysuckle, marigolds (slug-demolished), silly little annual salvias "Seascape" - Pointless, waste of space.

    Meh: White Cup and Saucer plants have been a damp squib so far. No fennel this year - rather odd. I liked the red species tulips I put in but I suspect they have all rotted away this summer.

    Successes:  An amazing year for Bishop of Llanduff all shaking with bees. I have used the as a cut flower plant and I have dozens of bunches over the summer. Linaria has been the triumph of the year - slugs don't seem to like it and the bees love it and it has been flowering its socks off all year. I put in two Etoile D'Holland which look very vigorous and seem like a good move. I look forward to seeing how they do over the next five years. Velour Tidal Wave petunias have been a great experiment - good for sun full.

  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    edited August 2019
    My two successes have been Salvia 'Purple Rain' and the grass, Sesleria autumnalis. This is how they looked on the 5th of June:



    And this morning:



    I did cut the Salvia back a bit to promote continued flowering. I wish I had cut it down to the base, as I did on one of the plants. That one currently has the freshest blooms. Next year cut half the plants down and then the other half a couple of weeks later.

    The Selseria is producing nice, upright, white flower spikes right now and has been looking smart all year.

    I'm regretting getting Agapanthus 'Navy Blue'. The true blue looks jarring against the mauves and purples I have. White would have been a better bet. It might get lifted and put in pots next year.

    I gave my Veronicastrums far too severe a Chelsea chop. By the time they produced any regrowth, their space was invaded by the surrounding plants and they never came to anything. Perhaps not helped by the fact they'd been divided into quite small pieces during the winter.

    I got some Calibrachoa which were a bit of a waste of time. I'm no good at keeping things like that watered... they disappeared. 
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • Julia1983Julia1983 Posts: 139
    Unexpected success- Malva moschato 'snow white'- grown from a 99p seed packet,   has flowered a lovely bright white even in my north facing bit of garden  :)  good old nasturtiums still putting on a show even in the shade.. My super failure this year was clematis 'fujimusume' that got munched by slugs before I got to see even one flower  :(
  • lilysillylilysilly Posts: 511
    @B3, all but the honeysuckle, which was a mouldy mess will go to a charity sale. Folk seem to snap up hardy geranium and irises. 
    I also removed a spirea Anthony Waterer, tried dividing it, too woody, now compost heap. A couple of small azalea that were just a gaudy pink, my sister in law took those. I used to be sentimental about plants and things, not anymore , life's too short.
    It is cathartic clearing stuff out. We just did our attic, 17 years of junk, sorted, binned, recycled, donated and sold. You feel kind of free afterwards. That's what spurred me on to start on the gardens, front and back.
    There are two old roses to remove, but they can flower again first. They were gifts years ago but aren't really my preference. 
  • HazybHazyb Posts: 336
    For the second year I have failed with sweet peas so won’t be growing them again. 

    I grew some mallow from seed, didn’t like it when it flowered so binned it. Only one cosmos plant grown from seed survived to flower.

    Lynchis Coronaria reduced to sticks thanks to slugs/snails. 
    A Koreana Brunette clematis vanished about 4 weeks after it was planted. 

    Had my best ever year for seed sowing despite some failures. So lovely to see your seed sown plants flower.

    Favourites. Agastache, Astrantia, Sidalcea, Scabious, rodochiton, roses and anemone wild swan. 
  • EricaheatherEricaheather Posts: 204
    Lupins for me. Always fail with them. Powdery mildew and slugs left me with one flower head all summer...out of 3 plants. Never again.
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I agree about lupins only bonus was when they became infested with lupin aphids they seemed to be feeding dozens of ladybirds. I had lots of them “ free when you spend £50” but they are all going! 
    My sweet peas at the allotment were a delight! 100s of blooms bunches picked for friends and family and vase fulls for the house so will do the same in 2020. 
    Many annuals bought as plug plants online were very poor but found a local GC which provided healthy basket plants very good value so no more online shopping for e and hence no more free lupins that I don’t want
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