Nell, you have just given me food for thought, I haven't the faintest idea of what I would do, really, but I think I'd be leaning towards leaving the shrubs with more mat forming perennials as ground covers, lots of seating areas to just sit and enjoy. All my collections, Fuchsias, Epi's, Succulents etc, would be passed on to anyone who will love them as much as I do. I'll keep my Hoya's though, my latest addiction :o).

A

Instead of working from the outer edges towards the middle, if I could start again, I would work from the middle towards the outer edges. My house yard is close to half an acre. Filling it in, cottage style, may take a full decade! I've been working on it for five years, thus far. And, I would have made the dogs' yard twice as large had I known I would be taking in so many abandoned pups!
There aren't any plants I want to give up.

Lorna

I would eliminate lots of things....just seems too fussy to me.

Maybe cut to just beds around the house and go to shrubs and small trees elsewhere.

Too much work.....

You have caught me after three days of rain where it beat the iris and peonies into the ground....and the weeds have sprung up everywhere and I am feeling overwhelmed!

Since I've just recently started my cottage garden adventure, right now I don't have much. I have a huge butterfly bush which I wish I had planted somewhere else - relocating it is going to be a pain. But ask me again in the fall, because I'll have a better idea about how my plants perform.

Mary

I would mix up my daylilies more. They are concentrated in one bed and in winter, when 70% of them disappear, the bed has no middle layer and looks unbalanced.

I've already had half the aristea ecklonii removed. They're even more boring than the agapanthus and the leaf shape is too similar when they're next to one another. I like to have a variety of leaf shape and foliage color to give year-round interest, especially since this is the front of the yard visible to the street.

This image is of one of my shaded beds, where the foliage combo came out especially well. The only upkeep it takes is to occasionally pull off some of the bacopa and plectranthus groundcovers, which otherwise would smother everything but the trees.
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Much as I love my cottage garden, there is no denying it takes considerable time and energy to maintain it. Can't use the "mow and blow" services that are cheapest. These beds have to be hand-weeded! I did design the landscape to be relatively easy to take care of, look good all year-round, and consume as little water as possible. But it is still a labor of love: only another gardener would be ecstatic over it.

However, cleanup and pruning are manageable because even though it's constant during the year, my beds are so varied that I can do one bed in one or two short sessions, then do another bed next week, and so on. There are weeks that go by where I don't need to do anything at all. I figure IÂd rather spend two hours weeding and pruning than one hour on a stationary bike.

I love the subtle changes in our garden  it looks good all year round, as different plants go in and out of flower. With good bones and thoughtful planning, I donÂt need to fuss over 95% of the garden unless I choose to rework a bed (or two, hee hee).

Only once a year is there a big cleanup, in late winter or early spring when I spend a week or so (yes, I'm retired) cutting back, fertilizing and mulching. Otherwise, I can break it down in manageable 2-hour sessions, 3-4x a month.

Much of that is because I WANT to putter in the garden, playing "plant dominoes" where I move stuff around and try to find room for whatever new purchases I've been seduced into. But it is consistency that counts  I could go away for two months, for instance, but not for six months without having to play some catch-up.

Realistically, having 2000+ sq. ft. of cottage beds is the maximum I can manage by myself. It's why I have no yearning for big amounts of acreage; I would be unable to care for it as I get older (I'm in my late 50's now and the knees and back are a bit troublesome already).

Ever since our extreme drought that we had last summer, fall and winter I have been re-evaluating my gardens. We are revamping several beds and putting in more shrubs that are drought tolerant esp lantanas, spiereas, adding more ornamental grasses and more daylilies. Giving up on lupines, delphiniums, all roses except my New Dawn and Knockouts. I will still maintain a true cottage garden that is 30x30 and fenced in - any fussy plant will go in there but it will still be survival of the fittest. I do alot of annuals from seed so there is always a riot of color in there. Hollyhocks are getting one more chance since they are my very favorite all time flower but if the rust continues then I will have to admire them in pictures. Reaching the 60's I am learning that I do need to pare down and not have EVERY garden be a fussy garden. We have over 20 different planting beds not counting veggie beds and it is constant work. Right now I still enjoy it but do see it getting a little harder each year - not getting any younger - lol.....

Lynne

This, for a start. In fact, this may be it's last year.

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Libby

When we built the house, I gave our landscaper free-rein to install the "bones" of the garden (shrubs, trees). I was too burned out from the building process/move to have time to think about it. For some reason my trusted landscaper planted things that are just too large for the fenced area. Abelias need to go; Weeping cherry needs to go. Just today, I convinced DH to pull the 3 abelias. If the Japanese Beetles eat the cherry down to bare limbs, he'll be ready to pull it, too. I sprayed it with Neem oil last night to fight the JBs. However, I worry that the tree is going to mature too large for the space.

I want to re-do my front walk beds to simplify them. Since I have such a large outer garden now, I don't want these smaller gardens along the front walk. It's too much of a good thing. On one side, I want to continue the ice plant for the entire bed and remove everything else. The other side is nepeta, lambs ear, lavender and Dutch iris around a crepe myrtle. I don't know what to change it to, but I want it simple.

Cameron

Libbyshome, that's really pretty but pruning must be a nightmare.

There's quite a few I'd get rid of, mostly stuff that was here when I moved in:

The holly that's to the left of my front door. Grows like a weed, hurts like hell if you touch it and is hard to keep under control. If I could dig it out without destroying the garden I planted in front of it, I would.

The rhododendron the previous owners planted right next to the holly. Instead of planting a low growing variety, they chose one that grows 10 - 12 feet tall which means it's constantly growing up over the bay window. Again, difficult for me to keep under control because I planted a garden in front of it before I realized what a monster it was.

The hemlock on the other side of my front door. A gorgeous tree, but who wants to keep a tree under control that wants to grow to be a hundred feet tall. It doesn't belong in a foundation planting. This one may have to come out, no matter what.

The moral of the story regarding the above three plants is don't put oversized plants in a foundation planting. It's ridiculous.

Phlox panniculata "Robert Poore". Nothing wrong with the plant itself - mildew free, sturdy grower, butterfly favorite - but it's a really, really (really!) loud pink and I don't think it goes with anything else in that garden.

Here's a picture of it in all its loudness. This was just a year after planting, so it hadn't reached full size:

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Oh, I am in love with Robert Moore - but then I do like the bold and the crass!!! There are a lot of plants I won't ivite into my new home - Bee Balm, obediant plant - for a 2.

Cameron, are the JB's you have the green one or the red ones? I read a while ago that larkspur are poisonous to the green ones.....

I feel like I'm constantly editing. My recent shovelpruning involved some roses that didn't do well this year because I didn't start spraying right away. I realized they always seem to go through an ugly stage after their first flush, so why put up with it ? I took out Peace, World Peace, Just Joey, Betty Boop and LD Braithwait, and replaced them with a yellow butterfly bush, a lavender butterfly bush, Dainty Bess rose, Grape Ripple daylily and cigar plant.

I still plan to have lots of roses, but just the tough, hardy ones, not the finicky ones I used to dote on. I'm leaning toward more of a butterfly garden.

Carol

The only thing that I'd like to discard are the Boxelder trees, which of course draw boxelder bugs. The darn bugs invade the house every fall and it takes all winter to get them all killed. Disgusting!

I want to get rid of the mildewy, invasive, perennial asters... also, would love to replace the lilacs with a non-suckering variety. Oh, and the row of Norway maples along the fence - DH-s grandma must have been mad when she planted those.
Some plants with burgundy foliage that just look like bare ground from a distance.

Oh gosh, Libby, do you really want to give up that beautiful rambler?! I would love to have such a bush along one of my fences.

Lorna

Libby, that rose sure is gorgeous, but you must need a chain-saw to prune it! It's a monster - but I wish I had it on my back fence, LOL.

I don't see anything in those pictures worth discarding. It all looks beautiful to me.

Nell, could you please tell me what a modified Hooker Formula solution is?

Thanks,
Mary

The only thing I can think of is the Brilliant Pink Icebergs in front of the picket fence. They look great but get so huge even in shade that they dwarf the fence. Everyone loves them but I kind of like seeing the fence. I think I'll be switching them out eventually to Livin' Easy.

Libby, is that Lady Banks? If so, I don't blame you. Pretty in spring but oh so ho-hum for the rest of the year. Then there's the invasiveness of it in our clime. Not worth it, imo.

Diana

The first to go would be anything fussy or disease prone. For me, that would be the little Rise N Shine rose. Currently all three, oops, four, of my mine are nekked from blackspot. I love the sweet little roses, but this ugly look is not cool. Thinking hard about shovel-pruning them. Red Cascade would go because they need so much pruning.

I'd keep my favorite daylilies, my shasta daisies, asiatic lilies and select antique roses. I'd want a few of butterfly attracting flowers, scabiosa, lantana, pentas...

I've lived in an apartment and been happy with a few potted blooms on the balcony. As long as I can have something and visit public gardens from time to time, I'd be content.

Iris's. Sure they look OK in the Spring for a couple days and then the whole rest of the year they look like doo-doo. They're very tall so they stand out with their ookey looking dead flowers topping most of the other garden plants. They don't have any particular scent, and they seem to breed like rabbits. No matter how many times you dig them up, a speck of rhyzome remains in the ground and generates a whole new plant by the next Spring. And if they get a little crowded, they just look awful all year long and won't bloom ever. Definitely iris's. Cheryl

The first thing I planted when we moved in 7 years ago was a mixed shrub border along the back of our property.

If I were doing it again, I would not include photinia or ligustrum, although they do look pretty in the spring when they bloom. Live and learn...

I've already cut a few of them down to make more room for the wax myrtle (which I'm happy with). The rest will probably go eventually, but I haven't decided yet what natives to replace them with.

Red tip Photinias! They were planted too close to the house in an attempt to provide some shade from the hot, western sun. They would be fine on a much larger lot, just not on my small, suburban one.

Another battle, that I have almost won, is Trumpet Vine. Again, it's way too sprawling to fit where I planted it. This is my 3rd year trying to get rid of it, and I've almost got all of it, now. UGH, those underground runners show up all over the place.

Marilyn

NO wisteria!!!!!!!

It someday will enter the house while we sleep and wrap us to our deaths before morning...its a monster....uncontrollable...prunning is good for only a month at a time..

Only becuase I need more room - but I'm willing to get rid of my David Austen roses and some of my phloxes.

The climbing roses in the garden room! Within the next month most of them will be removed. Beautiful for that first flush in June, but so much work all year. What with pruning, training, deadheading, etc. Also we have replaced 4 within the past two years due to RRD. That means I start over and the privacy is gone for a few years again. No more. We will probably be planting bittersweet instead. We have several in the more shaded areas and it covers the fence very nicely. Does need pruning, but hey, just "hack" away at it, and it is happy!

The bed roses are fine. Mostly prune down in spring and then just deadhead during the summer. Not so bad.
Marylu

What Would You Discard, if You Had to Regroup?

I'd discard/knock out the kitchen and replace it with an indoor greenhouse. I only have a kitchen because it came with the house.

Edna

Edna, that's a riot.

Roses, Just can't stand the blackspot anymore,
little by little away they will go.
Olga,

Elm trees - because they drop millions of seeds and every one of them grows! They love freshly cultivated garden beds. Grrrrrrrrrr.

I would get rid of Poison Ivy, Trumpet Vine, Bermuda grass and Johnson grass. I love Trumpet Vines but they DO spread under ground and pop up EVERYWHERE!
I bought a two gallon jug of RoundUp Weed & Grass killer on Saturday and it is going to be put to good work tomorrow if it doesn't rain...again (ugh).

I bought two plants of "Stinking Roger" Marigold (Tagetes minuta) to get rid of Nematodes. It really has been an affective insect killer and it does destroy the Nematodes in my garden soil that had been causing the most horrible problems with the roots of my plants. Horrible. The problem with Tagetes minuta is however, that it reseeds out of control! The first two years I managed to keep it pruned back and free of seeds. Last year however, I was not able to keep up with the cultivation and pruning in my gardens, so now, it is coming up all over my property! The seeds are very tiny and have fluffy 'parachutes' that carries them very far in the breeze, much farther than dandelions. Burning is the only thing that seems to effectively get rid of it, but you must get every single plant and pull up all old plants and burn them too, roots and all! Zooks!

Those are some of the things I would get rid of if I could.

~ sweetannie4u

star of Bethlehem!!!!!!!!:(
very sweet, pretty and innocent looking, but it is taking over my gardens/lawn etc!!!! It spreads like crazy! It was here when we moved in and I thought 'how pretty!'....I never realized it could take over everything.

To anyone who wants the Lady Banks:
It's yours.

Diana It was given to me as a gift. I knew what I was in for. Lucky for me, the people who gave it to me live in Europe and won't be back again. I've taken pictures and emailed them. That's good enough. ;) I'll remove it this winter.

Libby

In my yard I am actually getting rid of my PITA's this year...large garden bed is going to get mowed down and cardboard put over it until everything is gone...Also, my trumpet vine...WAYYYYYYYYYYY too unruly!

Mary, George Hooker's formula is a daylily forum favorite. Mr. Hooker's original formula calls for measurements in coffee cans and orange juice cans. All the ingredients plus some water were mixed together to make the stock. Then the stock was further diluted and slowly poured around the roots of the plant.

I omit the pesticide he recommended in 1978 and the liqued iron (my blue stuff had iron) and just mix one five gallon bucketful of dilute, ready-to-apply mix:

5 tablespoons of that fertilizer stuff that turns the water blue, your choice.
1/3 cup fish emulsion fertilizer
1/3 cup Epsom salts
5 gallons of water.

If you're a purist, you could use compost tea instead of the blue fertilizer and water and just add fish emulsion and Epsom salts.

To minimize sloshing out all my solution, I put everything except water in two five gallon buckets on my little wagon, pull them to the area I'm going to fertilize, add water to the first bucket, dip and pour on everything in easy reach until it's gone and then move on to fill the second bucket at the next area. Oh, you add solution by size of plant. The daylily people put 2-4 cups, by size of clump.

Warning: Fish emulsion is awfully smelly. One year there was a recipe on the daylily forum for something even worse that added alfalfa and let it ferment for a day or so. It was not for those who can't abide bad smells, lemme tell you!

Libby, we should start a thread about pretty plants that just aren't cute any more.
My Sago Palm has 34 new fronds this spring.
It was cute when it finally had 12 one year and 16 the next....
Now I have to start a tropical bed around it so it doesn't look 'funny' or it might need to go.
Nell

Hmm, well, everything at the new house is pretty new (at least, everything *I* planted), so I'm not ready to get rid of any of that yet. We are working on getting rid of our weed trees - buckthorn (ouch!) and Siberian elms.

At the old house, I sort of made that decision when deciding what to take with me. ;) The blue linum perenne was gorgeous, but self-seeded *all* over the place, and deadheading is futile since it is constantly blooming and setting seed at the same time. Plus, the blooms were normally gone by the time I got home in the evening, which got rather annoying. I'd already given away some of it, and filling in with other stuff, before we moved.

I also didn't take any of my coreopsis - another that was gorgeous, but time consuming to deadhead. Well, also because the bright yellow didn't work with the new color schemes I was planning - maybe someday, I'll have an appropriate place to put that screaming loud yellow, but not right now. ;)

I have those "screaming loud" coreopsis at the farthest end of my back borders, under fruit trees and some around the potager. Out of the way so they don't look too bad if I don't get around to deadheading them when they really need it.

Libby, I don't envy you taking that monster out. I hear the roots go down to China. : )

Diana

Oh, that I could only make the rounds and rid you all of your unwanted plants (sigh).

Annie

Crown Vetch! That stuff is evil and not very pretty in my opinion.

I finally won the battle this year and covered it with plastic and thick mulch and replanted the beds. The plastic will stay there for at least 2 years to make absolutely sure it is gone.

It has been over 1 month and only a few vetch popped up and I quickly removed them! I hate that stuff...

I replanted so that was my only item I would remove. the rest I love.
Karen