I had a Pieris that I inherited with the house and spent quite a while intentionally neglecting it, then a while actively trying to ‘accidentally’ kill it...it performed better than ever ! Finally managed to rehome it to somebody local who was looking mature shrubs of any kind.
Also have a fuschia that I liked, but was neglected a few years at the back of a border and ended up looking like a bunch of dead twigs. Nearly threw it out last year, but thought I’d cut it back hard for one last chance - I’ve never seen a plant so floriferous as it became last summer. Have used a similar ‘applied brutality’ on 2 Astilbe that seemed to have given up last summer, and they’re now going great guns.
Heuchera plants are pretty bombproof not that I've ever wanted rid of one but they recover after any neglect or pest attack just dig them up and bury them deeper.
Japanese anemone, I've hacked them down, dug them up, buried them under decking and poisoned them but still they persist. I suppose I should admire their determination.
Golden hop. Grows at about a foot a week. The new growth is a beautiful bright green, but it chokes everything else to death, and spreads via underground runners (one I chopped out earlier this year was about 4 inches diameter). Then, if that wasn't bad enough, by midsummer the leaves look hideous due to browning and insect damage!
Heuchera plants are pretty bombproof not that I've ever wanted rid of one but they recover after any neglect or pest attack just dig them up and bury them deeper.
As soon as I turn my back on newly planted heuchera, the vine weevil move in.
An olive tree in a pot. I've had it in a pot the garden for about 8 years. For the first 6 years (before I developed a passion for gardening) I didn't really know what I was doing and for those 6 years it sat in a 12" pot filled with MPC and never got watered (apart from rain), fed, potted-on nor offered any protection in winter. I even left it outside, abandoned, when we moved abroad for a couple of years. It never thrived but it held on. It's since been given a lot more TLC - I've potted it on and now it even gets watered in dry spells and fed occasionally.
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Also have a fuschia that I liked, but was neglected a few years at the back of a border and ended up looking like a bunch of dead twigs. Nearly threw it out last year, but thought I’d cut it back hard for one last chance - I’ve never seen a plant so floriferous as it became last summer. Have used a similar ‘applied brutality’ on 2 Astilbe that seemed to have given up last summer, and they’re now going great guns.
Leycesteria formosa
Both of these have been subjected to neglect and downright cruelty (by me) and both have thrived enough for me to become quite fond.
It never thrived but it held on. It's since been given a lot more TLC - I've potted it on and now it even gets watered in dry spells and fed occasionally.