What do you regret planting in your garden?

[MyRabbit79]

Inspired by the current thread about the plants and weeds people are currently battling, what are the plants you've purposely sown or planted in your garden and come to regret?

For me, it's aquilegia and forget-me-nots.

I bought some aquilegia for our front garden when we moved here and it pops up everywhere, looks messy and I don't love the flowers

Forget-me-not - I sowed these from seed two years ago out the front. They're now everywhere including in the pots, gravel and back garden. Planning to pull most of it up after it's flowered this year.

Spanish bluebells. I am positive that they were sold as native bluebells, and now I can't get rid of the damn things. They have really taken a hold, and keep coming back no matter how many times I try to dig them out.

As for the mint - well it was here when we moved in. It smells lovely when we cut the grass. 😂

I'm another who regrets planting stuff that hasn't survived!

We have a half acre rural garden that was just a mass of huge trees, weeds and overgrown laurels (I do regret the laurels being planted by whoever it was!) when we bought the house five years ago.

During the past five years we've been trying to create a garden, but the weather here is not suited to many of our choices. We've lost - loads of euphorbia, verbena (never re-seeds or comes back), ditto forget-me-nots, phormiums, dwarf conifers, alliums (100+ purple sensation bulbs lost), euonymus, verbascum, gunnera, kirengeshoma, calycanthus, cistus, trilliums, scabious, hellebores, camassia, clematis, ornamental grasses, actaea, erigeron, Japanese anemone, buddleia globosa, buxus, ilex crenata, lavender, rosemary, bay and lots of others I can't remember! Even my David Austin roses don't particularly thrive, with a few exceptions.

The only plants that are guaranteed to survive are bamboos, day lilies, tellima, persicaria and phlomis.

Our experience here has turned me right off gardening tbh...I mean, there's challenging and there's 'absolutely no point bothering!'

Where a outs are you LibertyLily some might live in the same region and be able to make suggestions.

Abouts*

Violets. I love them when they are in flower but they spread like crazy

Comfrey, although does make good fertiliser, need a nose peg when it's brewing 😊

Lamium - took over and swamped everything else. Pulled it all out in a fit of rage.

Hellebores - lovely but the snails ate them all

A viburnum which has done nothing for three years except grow ever more giant upright stems. In theory it will flower someday. Maybe it will be worth it.

Various baby clematis - see “snails”.

Japanese anemone - they produce nice late flowers but they look a mess the rest of the time and their huge leaves stifle other plants and are snail heaven.

Contrary to the above I loved our Erigerons, endless summer flowers and bees loved them (also snail proof!) sadly they died in the hard winter we just had.

We got rid of two huge bays and a laurel when we moved in, as well as a huge tangle of climbers. Trying to replace with things bred to stay small (it’s a small town garden) rather than things that will become monsters!

Alliums. I love them, but last year I didn't get round to removing the heads before they set seed

I now have a bajillion baby alliums in my garden, which I am trying to remove. The allium spheracephalon are attempting to take over the garden too

I hate crocosmia. I've spent two years digging up their stupid corms everywhere. They look nice enough but they just take over and there's no space to plant anything else.

The little alliums are doing that in my front garden too. I had no idea they'd self seed. Live the giant ones though

Rocket. It even out completes the fecking ground elder!

Bamboo. It migrated next door snd we had a nightmare getting rid of it.

It's gone now. The roots are like steel cables.

Yep Bamboo from next door was like the day of the Triffids.

Wild garlic. I planted one bulb in a tub about 20 years ago and now the wretched stuff is everywhere.

I would swap all your regretful planting for my sodding ground elder. It’s an absolute menace - the more you try to destroy it, it gets stronger and more prolific.

We just had our 7ft bay tree — inherited from previous owners — cut right down to the stump as it was blocking the light. The tree surgeon (could have done it ourselves, probably, but he was on site for another tree and offered to do the bay too) said it would grown straight back from the stump. No sign yet though.

Argh that was meant to be a reply to @Mercedes519

It is the devil in plant form. I hate it so much.

And that was to @UWhatNow ! Why aren’t my quote tweets working?!

I would say that it’s second to Japanese knotweed… it doesn’t invade buildings (god tell me it doesn’t) but it seems indestructible 😭

Cornish palm or whatever the proper name is (sounds like mouthwash) bloody ugly thing, towering over me like a giant regret.

Violas, was excited when they first self seeded (I am definitely only just getting into level 2)

Wild garlic taken free during covid when interest was high but availability low.

But the king of the hated....
Day lilles. Ugly, invasive, disappointing.

That does NOT fill me with hope! These things should come with warning labels…

A PP mentioned Virginia creeper up thread. We have the satanic combo of Virginia creeper, passion flower (frost tender apparently but grows like a weed) AND wisteria. Garden looks lovely in summer but I spend the whole time trying to stop it teaching the roof.

If I have a nasty fall and no one knows I’ve gone you’ll be able to tell when the climbing plants are growing over the house 😂

I'm going to go and dig out my newly planted wild garlic today I think, having read this thread.

A holly tree. Ugly thing that doesn't even produce berries in the winter.

Euphorbia - like so many planting as a cheap filler and for colour in winter except now I'm constantly pulling it out
Were on wet heavy clay so no plant does well the first 3 years, if I keep it alive past that it takes off!