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ladychroe

so, what flowers do you love to hate?

ladychroe
18 years ago

I just hate hate hate white flowers. And green flowers *cough* brecks' green tulips *cough* The whole purpose of my growing flowers is brightness and color.

And those brainy looking things. Those are just weird.

What flowers drive YOU nuts?

Comments (25)

  • BetsyBr
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am not keen on green flowers either. Marigolds drive me nuts. I am allergic to them and they are so pretty but the smell will run me off faster than a cigarette.

  • hydrangea_gal
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Marigolds and Mums skeeve me out. Not sure why. The worst thing on earth when I was pregnant was the smell of my marigolds. I thought I was going to die.

    I love Hydrangeas when they first start out and they are green....

  • ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    well this is not a flower but I HATE fennel. I have thousands of them coming up, and you can't even weed them like weeds, cuz their root goes down way deep, and have to dig them out.

    I swear I have nightmares about them.

    ellen

  • Birdsong72
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ellen, are you aware of the fact that fennel is a wonderful host plant to swallowtail butterflies? Try not pulling them all out. The butterflies need all of our help as Jersey get macadmized and sodded over.

    As for flowers that I hate I love the greenish yellow hue of helleborus 'foedalis' or that greenishyellow snowball viburnum I saw at Winterthur last week.

    Rh. Shamrock in it's yellow/green hue is welcomed each & every spring.

    Comment for you: Ask yourself this same question next December when all is barren. I'm sure you'd kill for anything flowering in your garden.

    And so it goes.....

  • diane_nj 6b/7a
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Red roses. Not roses, I LOVE roses. Lavender roses, orange roses, pink and white, white and pink, yellow, tan, apricot, bi-color, multi-color, striped... But red roses, ugh. No thanks.

  • wardw
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My taste changes, and after 20 years of looking down on marigolds I find that I enjoy them in my neighbors yard; they're so happy and trouble free and not in mine. The problem for me used to be the traditional south Jersey combination of red geraniums and orange marigolds. At one time they were practically the only thing available for full sun, and struck many an innocent blind - botanical hell.

    Then there are mums, most of which are a little tiresome as trimmed mounds. However, I do grow one I absolutely love, Sheffield Pink. It has perfect foliage all summer, so thick that weeds can't grow. Long about October its 4 inch single daisy flowers unfurl in pale pink by the hundreds on bushes about 3 feet tall.

    The ones that cause the most trouble in my garden are the plants I like, usually plants that reseed freely. The worst of which is brazilian verbena. Such a beautiful plant, loved by butterflies above all others. It is so hard to know when enough is enough, and many years I'm over the edge. As I write this there are at least 10 thousand seedlings out there. I don't need a single one since enough overwintered, but will they all get pulled? Only time will tell.

  • tracey_nj6
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Marigolds. Hate the smell, hate the slugs they attract.

  • Loretta NJ Z6
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I can't say I hate any flower. I always try to think of a way I can combine even the most common plants into something beautiful. I don't know any color that brightens up shade better than a reflective white and my green flowers on my euphorbias always draw attention. And I will even go so far to say, ladychroe, in the next few years, you will find favor with some green and white flowers just because that is how it goes when you declare a blanket statement like that!

    I use to be a yellow snob as another poster once called it on this site. The yellows had to be buttery or creamy, primrose I guess until the hot colored gardens with those strong blues, oranges and yellows started being photographed in the magazines then all of a sudden I loved a lot of yellows.

    I also hated when orange and pink were combined. I often had positive comments on my container colors, which is all I did back then before I had a house. However, my aunt who also did a lot of containers, mixed everything including orange and pink and from the street, it was very eyecatching where I felt my perfectly(?) matched pots weren't as noticable from far away. Now I experiment too much with plants in general and am all over the place, not by preference, just because I am compulsive and have to put the plants somewhere.
    Same with roses to comment on the red rose statement. When I first bought roses, I leaned toward the austin colors, soft peaches, pinks, pearly colors. But the one rose that was incredible from any point in the yard or street was Opening Night which was a blood red rose. One of my neighbors said that made up her mind for her. The only rose she would grow would be a red rose.

    I would say I am tired of a few plants that I see everywhere, I don't hate them.
    I don't tire of all marigolds, only the solid orange ones or those mixes they sell at the garden stores. French Vanilla was beautiful in my garden as were the signets like Paprika. I like to pick out pattern types like the stripes, Naughty Marietta, the double mahogany types, Bolero and I like them combined, not in a long row most times.
    Not crazy about salvia spendens, especially the red. I don't know why these are sold everywhere instead of S. coccinea.
    Although I think impatiens are beautiful and use them, I hate when people fill their garden solid with them. Same goes with tuberous begonias and petunias.
    I hate red, white and psuedo blue combinations of red petunias, white petunias and blue ageratum.
    I am tiring of weeping cherries, crabapples and japanese maples, florida dogwoods, PJMs, forsythia, long rows of arborvitea, barberry, burning bush, although I haven't tired yet of magnolias. I think they are all beautiful but I hate the fact that people overlook so many other beautiful plants to go with these safe bets.
    Although eyecatching, miscanthus grass with coneflowers and blackeyed susans is becoming a real staple too.

    And I might add that most of these plants I insulted in this post are growing in my yard too.

  • jimcnj
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I can't see how anyone could hate white flowers. Have you ever seen an all white daffodil? A Spring Beauty? Trillium Grandiflorum? Swamp Azalea? Pure white Glads? Ivory Lisianthus? White Turtleheads? White Snapdragons? Maybe you just never seen these flowers? I am curious to know what you do like.

  • ladychroe
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OK, ok, I have to admit that trilliums and white glads are pretty when I see them in other people's yards. It's just that I'm an incorrigable color junkie - I love big, bold flowers like named daylillies, dahlias, tuberous begonias, and iris. White flowers are beautiful and sculptural but they don't satisfy me the way that a 15-inch fireball hibiscus flower does.

    I want my garden to be full of fun and cheer and energy. Quiet, classy beauty isn't my style (at the moment.)

    I did buy a yucca the other day, however. Mostly for the foliage, but a five-foot flower spike can be fun, even if it's white. Don't suppose there's a pink variety available?

  • jimcnj
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I understand - You're just like my wife! She says " Why is everything white?"

  • karen64
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I was a white snob. If something white popped up in my garden, you're eye just went straight to that plant, it was the hog of the garden and did not blend in with the others. But then one spring day I was driving along admiring all the ornamental pear tree's in full white bloom. I know they are hated by many because they split, but I found a variety at my local nursery that does not do so. And then there's variagated everything. I didn't like forsynthia last year. This past winter seemed extra long to me (I hit middle age) and suddently those yellow bushes were kinda cute. Mimosa tree's make me smile. (those seed pods were great in mud pies and the funky pink flowers were great earrings) I love to hate roses, I actually love roses but they are so difficult! Now I just figure if it up and dies on me, it was not meant to be, I gave it my best, and I'll try some other type. I have about 15 roses that behave. karen

  • Loretta NJ Z6
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Roses are definitely a love hate relationship. I hate those bare green sticks in August, hate getting stuck by the thorns or getting caught on them. But right now, the leaves still look good and the buds are coloring up. They will be beautiful until the earwigs start eating them.

  • mulchwoman
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Folks
    I'm sorry to say I love all flowers. Like people, they are all different and have something about them to make them unique and wonderful. I just wish I had more room--then I could have more of them.
    Pat

  • Loretta NJ Z6
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    jimcnj,
    That's what my son says about Christmas lights, "Why is everything white?"

    White doesn't have to be the hog all of the scene. I always thought in my container garden days that a window box or container was improved by white or yellow in the mix. I usually prefered a small flowered version of the colors like allysum, violas, crystal white zinnias - whatever I could find that year. I always found to my eye that it set the other colors off.

  • diane_nj 6b/7a
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It's not that I haven't tried to grow red roses, I have. Many of them. But I don't find them interesting, so I tend to ignore them. And when I do manage to keep one alive, I give it to my mom. I've got three now (two on purpose, one was given to me last week, and I'm darned sure going to keep this one alive!), well, one is a red blend.

  • nodivision77
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Impatiens..especially the varagieted types.

  • Valiche
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cosmos. They get too tall, are too delicate looking but I can't stop growing them even if I wanted to. They volunteer like crazy.

    Petunias - so why I am growing two flats of them 8^D

    Poppies - something to do with Wiz of Oz. Growing two flats of those, too.

  • fernzilla
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well in defense of White Flowers, which I absolutely love, in the Hot Humid South, they add a bit of cool and refreshing appearance to the garden,especially at night. I have made it a point to concentrate almost entirely on a White Garden, somewhat like Vita Sackville West's famous all White garden at Sissinghurst. I also do other colors in certain areas, but still prefer a monochromatic palette, such as all dark purple foliage, with various shades of purple ,lavender ,lilac. I for one can't stand a riot of loud colors that clash in my garden. BTW my favorite flavor of ice cream is vanilla(:-o

  • juliet6
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The thing that rouses that much negative passion in me is a complete LACK of flowers! You know, when you drive past those suburban deveopments and there are some bland evergreen shrubs in front and then nothing else but grass. I can sort of understand it in the new developments (hey, maybe construction over-runs blew through their landscaping budget) but its just so strange in the 10-year old developments. Of course, this is coming from someone who would spend her last $32 on a mixed flat at Cicconi Farms....
    Lisa

  • subtropix
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I hate geraniums and zinnias.

  • freber
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I really dislike those gawd-awful blue roses - they look so fake!! Otherwise I'm pretty much an anything goes kind of flower person. Although carnations and marigolds are definitely not favorites...

  • ladychroe
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    LOL, didn't think I'd see this post again. I actually did start to like some white flowers... with conditions. They must be pure, crisp, snowy white, no tan or cream. They must also be surrounded by pinks, purples and/or blues, like this:

    But I still like flashy hot colors better:

    Ahhhh.

    And that yucca I bought went straight into the garbage when the flowers opened tan instead of white. Plus I heard how impossible they are to eradicate. Good thing I got it early because I like to move things around.

  • ellie1857
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    As a native Texan, I hate periwinkles. They were too common because they were easy to grow and about the only thing that tolerated the heat. Oh yeah and Mexican petunias or pentas (I think)...it my last house it took me three years to get rid of them. What a nuisance! Probably not a problem in NJ. I love all the flowers here, even mums! (They didn't do well in Texas.)

  • mrsc
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Honeysuckle. I don't like the scent, vines, or bees & ants it attracts.

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