I'm reducing the number of some salvias and replacing some Rudbeckias with different varieties.

I'm still young enough that this isn't a problem yet. But I do mis-plant things. I have white pervian daffodils against a white house that's not working. And I have a golden yellow azeala that is in a pH neutral bed that needs to be moved over in the shady area where the soil is more acidic.

Fun thread. A few years ago I couldn't bear to get rid of a plant. But the longer I garden the easier I find it is to get rid of something that doesn't work. Although that could also be because space is running out here and I have my eye on some new unusual thing to replace duds with, LOL. I don't feel bad if the plant has been given enough opportunity to "do its thing", or I've tried to accommodate it to the best of my ability (like specialized care or moving multiple times to find the optimal location for its needs).

Finally!!! Another person who doesn't much care for 'Walker's Low' Nepeta! I actually dug this guy up last fall and potted it up (to give away or something). I don't much care for the wishy-washy color and the neighborhood cats mangle it so much by rollin' on it that it is always deformed or too mashed to bloom much anyway.

Also dug and potted up Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' last fall. I didn't find it very nice looking after it "bloomed". Plus those seedlings were a pain to go hunting for under the red twig dogwood and dig out. Liatris too- it has been in a steady decline since planting it years ago. It has lost its charm on me somehow.

Last spring I removed the two clumps of Lysimachus 'Firecracker' that were in the main gardens. Love the looks of the plant, but it was one of those things that spread like wildfire and needed constant attention to make sure the runners didn't grow into nearby things. I did save some to put in the Alley/Rampant Garden where things are allowed to grow wild and free. Took out a Maltese Cross. It grew far too tall and gangly in the part shade and needed staking. Plus I don't much care for how it looks after it is done blooming (which isn't even that long!).

This year I might chuck the Lamb's Ear (can't remember if there is still some left in the main garden or not...). While I like the looks of it both in and out of bloom, the thing mildews terribly. And then it also rots out in the center frequently making it necessary to divide every couple years.
Still deciding if I want to get rid of the KO rose in the middle of the main bed. I like that it is puts out blooms for so long, though I am not sure if I like hot pink or not. I do like the double KO on the other side, but maybe that is because it is paired with purples, blues, and burgundy shades that tone it down some??? Dunno yet...
CMK

I shovel-pruned achillea/yarrow almost as soon as I learned how to pronounce its name. It's just not worth the effort and from where I'm standing it adds nothing to the garden appearance. It's outta here.

I dug up large clumps of Stella d'Oro daylilies and left them upside down so they'd have nowhere to send their roots. I don't think it killed them so those will get tossed over the steep hill behind my garage. If they take root and grow there, so be it--the soil is nothing but bank-run gravel so more power to them. The hill is a carpet of vinca; let the two of them fight it out and may the strongest survive.

Don't have nepeta 'Walker's Low' but from comments I've read by other gardeners on this forum, I won't waste any $$ buying it. I have an inexpensive meadow sage that's an anchor in my full sun butterfly bed--it's gorgeous, well-behaved, drought-tolerant with a nicely mounded habit and needs zero care--no pinching, pruning, staking, watering, fertilizing all year, from spring to fall. I will divide it this year, more because I want to have multiple plants, not because it needs it.

Eryngium/sea holly has stunning blue flowers early in the season but after it's done blooming it looks ratty and all parts of the plant are prickly, making weeding around it painfully unpleasant. I'm going to dig it out and offer it to someone rather than shovel prune it seeing as how I did spend money to buy it and someone else just might come to like it.

I'm adding tall garden phlox as fast as I can grow it. There's plenty of full sun that shines on my little green acre and I just love the rich jewel colors late in the season. I pinch mine to keep them from growing tall and flopping. So far I have 'David,' 'Laura,' 'Franz Schubert' & 'Blue Paradise' but I'm growing 'Peppermint Stick,' 'Flamingo' & 'Nora Leigh' this year via winter sowing.

My one veronica is small and well-mannered so I'm growing more of that from seed via winter sowing also and assuming it grows, I've a few other places I'd like to tuck it in among other perennials.

This is a good forum topic--gives folks an opportunity to vent as well as hear about others' experiences with various plants.

I had a nepetia munstead. It had a very nice growing habit - about 6" with nice flowers, not leggy. The Walker's sounds like 'cataria' as far as its habits. Great for cats toys, that's about it. CMK, I too did not like Maltese cross, and won't buy it for my new garden.

Nancy.

-Gardenweed, I hear you on the Eryngium. I love the flowers, but mine flops like there is no tomorrow. I call it Tiny Tim because it will fall over without a crutch to support it!! Sea Holly has a long tap root that resents being disturbed, so you may have a tough time getting it out and not killing it. When I need to move plants with tap roots I try and dig a number of inches away from it and straight down, so as not to sever the root. Then try and lift the whole thing up gently. Hope you have good luck digginâ it up!

Another plant I dislike and have been thinking of getting rid of for years is Echinops. Horrible monster. The lower inner foliage yellows and looks icky before it even blooms. The plant reseeds like the dickens and the babies DO NOT pull up easily (plus coming in contact with this prickly plant makes my skin itch!) ;-P

-Nancy, glad I am not the only one! Cut the thing down to the ground after bloom and it doesn't send up much new growth. Cut off only the flowers and it looks like a bundle of stems ending in nothing! Very unattractive...
CMK

I have inherited a garden and have been finding all kinds of things planted inappropiately, in a matter of 3sq ft I had 3 small weigia bushes(how big do they grow!), a grapevine on a arbor, honeysuckle on same arbor, and on the other side of said arbor(the gate for getting into my back yard)a climbing hydrangea, and 3 ft away from the first mentioned side of the arbor, not more than 3 ft away and right beside the house(all this is) is a camelia!!! So far have dug out the 3 weglias, and camilia, but next is the grape, which has a trunk the size of a muscleman's arm! It is out of control! I am gonna try to save it, but it may die. I also had to get rid of a crazy kiwi vine that was covering the house.I have a sad excuse for 2 ligularias that I bought, they don't like where they are planted, so have to move them. I have a few roses, that were here but have not really done anything, I guess I need to learn how to help this stuff thrive. I wanna learn about amending soil/fertilizing and such as I just LOVE flowers!!!!

In my case, I need to reduce the front yard plantings but I cannot do so by selectively choosing one plant over another. I feel like the people on 'HOARDERS' where each item has meanings - and I can't bring myself to get rid of a single one. So the only way I can attempt this is by starting anew. That is to remove all plants in one plot. Setting them all aside and then replanting them according to a design. Those that do not fit will have to find new homes. I would have to be brutal (channelling my Genghis Khan)

In my backyard, I plan to redo my pond and reduce the size. But it also means I may have to redo a rather compacted plot there that includes a mature cedar. I have a really nice Joe Pye and hydrangea and rudbeckias and bugloss, and other plants in this area. It's going to be really hard to reduce these stuff.

However that means I would have additional space for something else.. Not sure what at this moment, but I do need a raised vegetable bed..

ianna, haha that is funny. :) we should start a show called plant hoarders! only another gardener can understand. :)

Lots of plants in my garden are slated to go this year as I seriously need to make space so it's 'tough love' this year.
~Pulmonaria that has never grown very large. I think it may need a warmer zone and I've tolerated it for several years.
~Striped very invasive clump of grass. Every year it needs chopping back by at least 2/3 so no longer bothering with it.
~A lilac that looked stressed last year even before I moved it, but I babied it along - it's going if it doesn't shape up.
~All the pale pink yarrow - I'm only keeping the red and yellow ones.
~A lavender pink daylily I bot on sale last year - it's a really washed out color and was prettier in the picture!
~One of the new peonies I bot last year wasn't doing well despite the same care as the others so it's gone if it shows any signs of disease.
~More Shastas and feverfew to be pulled. Removed a lot last year and mulching will take care of the seedlings if I can get it all done.
~Sadly I may have to remove some of my old delphinium. However, they've lasted many years longer than the suggested lifespan. I grew some from seed last year to replace them so hopefully they'll have survived the winter and bloom this summer.
~Lamb's Ears - I always get rid of the older woody plants and the seedlings near the patio and paths. I do like the plant but so do the bees and I don't want them near places we frequent.
~Many irises will go this year. They have spread like weeds in several areas. Besides I bot some new ones last fall to replace them.
~Rhubarb plants are gone as I don't eat the stuff and it takes a lot of space.

Always interesting to hear which plants others like and dislike. I absolutely love the Walker's Low catmint I bot last year and plan to propagate it by stem cuttings this spring. It's a pretty color. Mine didn't grow all that tall, didn't need staking or pruning and bloomed all summer and the bees love it. I don't fertilize it much, just a bit of compost and occasionally alfalfa tea. I wonder if that's why it stays shorter.

Was lurking around here and came across this thread (with lots of familiar names, too). I loved reading everyone's "failures". Is it just me, or are they nearly all perennials? I have claimed to be a perennial gardener for years, but my perennial palette is growing smaller and smaller every year simply because so many of them are maintenance hogs, or they flop, or their blooms don't last long, or their blooms are lovely but the rest of the plant has nothing to recommend itself, and on and on.

More and more, every year, I am planting unusual annuals. At the end of the season, clean up is a snap, and if I don't like them, I simply don't plant them again.

And oh, bulbs. They are truly the most successful plants in my garden: daffodils, tulips, cammassia, crinums, zephyranthes, eucomis...the list goes on and on. I love them.

Natal, I would love to hear your results with rudbeckias in your area. I love them. Their blooms and colors are spectacular. But, I have yet to find a single one that blooms more than once a year in my horrid heat. This year I am planting orange, yellow, and bi-colored zinnias in their spots.

And here's another vote against Walker's Low. I thought the color was wishy-washy because of my heat.... Pulled them out about three years ago. Planted salvias instead.

I don't have any plants that I'm editing, but I am giving my mom the five forsythias I got for the kitchen garden. It turns out, deer DO eat forsythias. Poor little things got all trimmed back, so they'll be safer, up at mom's :)

As for Walker's Low, I got some nice ones at Lowe's last year...and the bumblebees absolutely love them! I have salvias, lavender, veronica (I like spiky purple plants, apparently) but I would not get rid of my catmint. They've done very well, as long as I don't put them too near the house, where the cats can roll in them. They don't seem to pay any attention to them, in the kitchen garden.

Here's the catmint, with bumblebee...

{{gwi:638008}}

I have eliminated all of the milkweed. Reseeding nightmare.
Only one Crown Pink is left. Reseeds like crazy.
Only one Feverfew. Reseeds.
No more rusty hollyhocks or snapdragons.

The biggie? All of those lovely expensive daylilies I bought online and waited anxiously to see in bloom. The colors are not bright enough to compete in my garden- they all appear as a fleshy peach color wih a dull reddish eye. Gone is Strawberry Candy, Eskimo Kisses, Jamaican Music, Exotic Treasure, Egyptian Queen... they are all sitting in the shade in a shovelfull of dirt, because I cannot bear to throw them away after spending so much money.

But I bought six more Bridal Wreath Spireas this weekend...

My Variegated Artemisia has spread like wildfire! I like it in early Spring while it is short. Lovely soft mint green and yellow leaves on 6 inch plants grow around the irises and roses, but then it gets tall by mid midsummer, up to four feet tall, and looks weedy. It has spread all through the bed and out into one of the paths now and I am having to hoe and hoe to get it out. One missed root or one piece of root and it comes back like the plague.

I won't cull it out completely though. It has its good qualities.

Everyone's responses have me remembering other things I have/need to get rid of.

-hosenemesis, that is too bad all of your new daylilies turned out to be of dull color. Maybe you could trade them off here on the Daylily or Plant Exchange forums for something you like better? Or maybe there is some local plant swap near you?? I hear you on the color thing. Years ago I got a 'Pandora's Box' daylily and liked it quite a bit (seeing as I only had three daylilies and one was a Ditch Lily to compare it to, lol!). Now I truly dislike that buff/skin tone color and nondescript purple eye. Have that and a dull lavender/beige eyed 'Pony Trails' daylilies waiting in pots behind the shed to find new homes.

-Annie, I love the variegated Artemesia too and could never bring myself to give it the boot either. I have mine with Ribbon Grass in a side area under a maple tree. It is so dry there, and the soil so gravely, that it keeps them in check a little better. So amazing to watch those bright leaves emerge in the spring!
CMK

Astrantia. I never cared for them so the're going in a "waste" area; a place where I plant all my discards.

I love astrantia.. give them to me.. LOL

I dug up two Lady Banksia roses as the huge roots were undermining our fence and our house! Those ladies are STRONG!

I'm preparing to shovel prune my Knock Out roses in the future. I've planted crepe myrtles along my cottage fence. When those provide enough shade in the cottage garden, then I'm digging out the KOs because the Japanese Beetle fight makes the roses not worth it anymore.

Nepeta note -- I have 'Six Hills Giant' and 'Walkers Low'. Of the two, the Six Hills is fabulous, but Walkers Low has never put on as good a show or shape as the Six Hills. Both are loved by bees and they'd be terribly upset with me if I got rid of those. That said, I have the space for them, too.

After more than 90 days of temperatures over 90 degrees last summer and the fact that we are already in SEVERE DROUGHT here, I've made the decision to not add any new varieties of plants to the garden. I will only increase numbers of existing plants that sailed through the heat unscathed -- agastache, salvia, Russian sage, flax, buddleia, lavender, stachys, gaillardia, coneflowers, sedum, coreopsis and shastas.

I'm already having to water the garden to try to keep my spring flower seedlings growing. It's so dry!

Cameron

I am doing quite a bit of moving and dividing in my continuing renovation of my garden, but the only ones I am actually removing from the garden are several red hybrid tea roses. Rangy, defoliated by late summer, ugly deadheads, etc., which is just not good enough when there are so many better choices. I am sending them out to my parents' rural property and replacing them with better, more attractive and non-red roses.

I am a bit surprised at the Nepeta-haters! I love mine...the foliage is a valuable dusky colour and the blooms are, in my view, terrific and enhance everything around them (especially pink/white peonies and rose and yellow roses like Julia Child). They also perk up other, brighter blues like in iris and Rozanne geranium and look great against blue conifers like Blue Star Juniper... And a shearing once, maybe twice, a season is all they need to have a tidy form and almost season-long bloom.

I "allowed" these coneflowers to reseed where they wanted last year - and was pleased with the effect.

{{gwi:638009}}

But now wish they were white instead of pink...why am I never satisfied?

I have some obedient plant that is not very obedient. I have it if full sun on the south side of the house. It flops over every year and by the time it blooms, I is lying all over. I love its color in September and I hate to get rid of it, but is looks nasty, like something made their bed in it. Out it goes, well, I might keep a little.

Matthew
Indiana.Matt