visit to garden centre -mea culpa ,mea culpa

[gingeroots]

I was doing so well - looking , bearing in mind where I wanted the plants for ,writing names down for research and careful thought when at home - then I called in at more nursery type place and had a rush of blood to the head .

And now I've bought plants which include 2 that are not suited for the spot I was looking to fill .And ,actually I'm not even sure I love them .
These www.rightplants4me.co.uk/content/plant?PlantID=1419&LatinName=Asphodeline%20lutea

And I'm not ready to put the others in yet and they've joined a little group waiting to be planted . And the weather has turned cold and it's probably going to be a bit late for planting .

I'm very cross with myself .

That's quite a plant!

No-one should apologize for buying asphodel! Do you know the William Carlos Williams poem, Of Asphodel that Greeny Flower? Amazing writing centred on an amazing plant.

I love those seed pods!

Thanks .
It's just that I really can't afford impulse buys ,especially if I'll struggle to find the correct habitat for them in my clay and overshadowed garden , and I'm cross with myself .

Still ,mustn't be even sillier and let it spoil trying to grow a perfectly good plant.

Thanks holly -I'll read that in more depth later when I'm feeling stronger .I believe I did come across some reference to Asphodeline lutea being the flower of the dead

No, no - it's the flower of a dead in a positive way. It is the plant of a meadow where the dead who have done their work reside in Homer, and it later became the plant of the paradisical Elysian Fields.

Once you have the gardening bug, you do sometimes buy things that just aren't quite what you intended. I have been known to hang on to unsuitable things in garden centres with a grip that cannot be prised off, wailing that I just HAVE to have them in my life.

And OK, so they like it dry and sunny and you have wet shade. Normally, my advice is to work with your conditions because that is easier, especially at the start. BUT there are loads of ways of creating the right environment, even in the wrong place if you see what I mean. There are people who grow bananas in the pennines, or delicate jungle plants in Scotland.

Get a load of grit, dig it in, and put them in the sunniest place you can find - if your soil is really heavy, consider a pot. If you are cold, claggy and shaded on one side, you maybe have another side - a front garden or entrance?- that gets more sun??

There must have been an instant attraction! So nurture it, and grow to love it.
DH and I were out shopping on Friday, for some specific shrubs and we came home with a bronze chrysanthemum in a pot. No plans whatsoever on where to put it, but it was on death row, and we took pity. ( Mind you it was a bargain, so maybe doesn't count! ) I've given it a little cut back and tidy, a good water, will be repotting it this afternoon and It is going by the front door, as all the buds are opening and looking rather nice .

Gosh don't despair, it's proof that you are so passionate about gardening that you lost your common sense. It happens to everyone, don't worry.

If you really don't like it anymore, try returning it to the garden center or give it to a friend. Or see it as an experiment, from what I've seen it tolerates partial shade. I have a few plants that should not be surviving let alone thriving and they do!

I believe that they use the leaves to roll cheese in, in Italy - if the cheese has nice green leaves then the cheese is fresh and if the cheese looks a little dried out, don't buy the cheese!

We have loads of these, due to be planted in a new alpine/med garden.

oh thank you everyone ,how kind you all are !

your comments make me feel more normal .

poem is lovely holly and bless you for saying more ,Elysian Fields aah...
bookbook you're right ,I do love the foliage ,just a little unsure of the flower spike .

qwebec -thank you ,mmm passionate or a little bonkers ,fine line I guess

biscuit - a group of them ,now you're talking ,bet they look stunning .Have they got a rhizome bit ? Do they spread ?

It is normal around here. Mind you, half of us have serious plant dependency issues. It's like addicts empowering addicts sometimes!

Asphodeline lutea will grow in clay, and expand, and be a pain to eradicate as I recall.