What easy plant is your nemesis?

[IOMQuestions]

It used to be cosmos for me, but finally cracked it last year.

It's very heartening to hear how many others can't grow mint. If anyone wants any of my rampant self seeded rocket, however.......

My bleeding heart does really well in a large pot, it comes back every year. Part shade and keep watered.

Do you cut it back over the winter? It flowers on new stems so you have to cut it back to about 2 foot off the ground in autumn/winter time.

Hollyhock. Just doesn't like it in my garden :-(.

Hydrangeas, viburnum.

Carrots here too, which either don't grow at all or end up as woody pencils. I've tried growing them in my raised beds and in potato bags to no avail.

Also tulips - they start well, flower beautifully, then develop tulip fire despite being grown in new compost in pots. I really should stop being tempted by the Sarah Raven catalogue each autumn.

Sunflowers. The squirrels dig them up every time.

Erigeron. So pretty, so easy. I had visions of masses of it tumbling over the steps down to the front garden.

Nope. Self-seeding, my arse.

It's verbena, delphiniums, lavender, achillea and Japanese anemones for me - although the Honorine Jobert planted in 2021 is thriving.

Mint grows like mad here and we are very fortunate that despite living somewhere much wetter than we've been used to previously, the local slugs/snails don't seem partial to our hostas. The kirengeshomas and ligularias, otoh, are more hole than plant!

We also lost a ton of plants over last winter - rosemary, euphorbia, phormiums, apricot, buddleia weyrania and bay to name but a few - so soul destroying when you think of the cost involved, both financial and effort.

Valerian ,the pink sort. Grows like a weed near me but I grew some from seed and frost killed the lot

Sweet peas. Good year this year, one germinated!
not had a lot of luck with petunia germination over the last few years.

@SatelliteStomper
erigeron took several years to self seed in my garden then suddenly took off

Ahh, interesting - I'll keep my fingers crossed then for a surprise in a year or two.

We live by the sea and there's tonnes of it seeded into the harbour wall; it looks so lovely and I really want some!

There’s no way you killed six aloe Vera’s, I bet you thought they were dead but they weren’t. I had one which stayed outside by accident through a northern winter in a pot with no drainage and was literally black mush. I brought it back inside and let it dry out and it’s now back to full strength.

Coriander. Just bolts straight away, every time. To be fair, this time it could be said that my watering was erratic, but it's the same whether I grow it in pots or the soil. I recall someone saying it is best sown after June so I'll try again.

No I really am Death to Aloes. They go brown ( not the sort of brown / yellow from the inside that they go when unhappy) but an external crusty sort of brown- like some sort of plague. I’ve dishwasher-ed the empty pots before I start again but feeling disheartened so working my way up to purchase of more doomed plants.

I can, however, keep mint alive for years.

Another vote for hydrangea here. Slow death by looking weedy then fading away. Damp shady areas so i'm taking it personally.

Mint.
Hosts, lupins, delphinium, dahlias, etc, will only grow if I religiously dig in nematodes.

I try to stick to things the slug and snail beasts dislike: daphne, hibiscus, geraniums, fuschia, penstemon, potentially, roses, etc.

Sweet peas. I have tried from plants or from seed. My mum used to grow them and they were fantastic, we had vases full of them in the house.

French lavender

I just can’t quit it despite being beaten

The first year you have them, do not let them flower. They like it well drained, dryish and hot. Try crowning them. Pot them into a pot that is way too big, but with five or six cm to the brim. Let them get to 10cm tall then add a couple of cm of compost, if you don't nee shoots cut them back to 5cm again.

Good luck.

Rosemary - just can't seem to do it - have tried in many different sunny pleasant spots - it just hates me.
Mint on the other hand - all over the place.

Me too. So sad, I'd love to have a whole bed of lupins of all colours.

My lavender and mint grow in profusion with very little attention, and my fatsia was so big I had to get a man in to tame it, but I cannot grow hostas to save my life.

It’s not so much it hates you, it’s just that for some reason it doesn’t like your garden.

You’ll know you’re a proper gardener when you find yourself saying, not “I can’t grow rosemary”, but “rosemary doesn’t do for me”. Put the blame fair and squarely where it belongs, on the plant