That's a good question, because I know I've done it. Made me feel I was really evolving as a gardener. My mother has gotten quite good at that; she has been editing and streamlining and revising her garden for years. Sometimes I'll try to get her interested in some new exotic and she'll listen politely -- but if it's finicky or small, she'll pass. (I think Lady's Mantle is one of the few she's taken up.)

I cleared out the alyssum and other annuals from the quarter bed that surrounds my favorite rose and replaced it with Georgia Blue verbena. It's one of the first things to bloom for me in the spring, (and is smothered with gorgeous blue flowers for 10 days), it's no maintainance (weeds have no chance), and in the fall the leaves turn a gorgeous red.

I pulled out some varigated hosta from a little shady bed at the foot of my autumn clematis and replaced it with leadwort (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) It's only drawback is that it's so late to emerge in the spring. It is also no-maintainance, with gorgeous blue flowers (in the late summer/fall) and red foliage after the first frost.

I gave up on regular delphiniums and started growing the much easier Chinese delphs. Am weaning myself away from the idea of sweet peas (since they always look like carp here by the end of June) and have replaced them for the most part with white Black-eyed Susan vine. I've quit trying to baby the Jacob's ladder (altho' I still covet the Brise D'Anjou!) in a shady spot, and seem to be building a little colony of Nodding Ladies Tresses (Spiranthes cernua) a native orchid.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of things I still need to get rid off. I have a beautiful mock orange I picked up several years ago. It's waaay too big for the space where I have it, and keeps trying to send up suckers to survive. the flowers are gorgeous, but they don't last long, and they don't have a scent.

I have a Wild Spice rugosa rose I spent $7 on that is hardy, disease and bug resistant, and blooms on and off all summer. Unfortunately, the flowers have only a faint scent, and they shed their leaves after two days.

And I have an Othello rose. Someone sent it to me as a cutting; six inches of stem with a cluster of roots. By the third year, it was throwing 8-10 foot-long canes, had killer thorns, and became a blackspot magnet. Despite my best efforts, every summer it becomes nearly nude; no leaves to speak of. But what flowers -- electic cerise-pink, aging to a silvery lavender, as full as peonies, and a scent that could drive you mad.

Those three are the ones I know should go. I'm just not evolved enough to do it.....

I am definitely ruthless when it comes to performance. I just sacrificed a Joe Pye Weed that was perfectly healthy. But it bloomed very late in the season and the blooms weren't all that attractive. If I had more space, I would have just moved it, out of the forefront. I replaced it with a Butterfly Bush. Did the same thing with Queen of the Prairie - it only bloomed for a few days and wasn't all that great. So out it went. I have no patience with plants that don't do well right away. Can't spend the time waiting for a show when there are sooo mnay other wonderful things available. I agree, annuals are a great filler until the perennials mature.

I alaways leave a spot in the front to tuck a few annuals. I can't help but feel sorry for them when they get maligned on this web site. I imagine them crying out: "but we're plants, too!" Grin. They cheer up the garden with their enthusiastic color and growth when the perenials are waiting, growing, or fading away...

I have been gardening for over 10 years and keep learning as I go along. I was on an herb kick a few years back and much of my garden was herbs of various shapes and sizes. I had lovage planted for a few years and I did use it in salads, but it just got too big for my garden. I finally had to say goodbye to it. I also pulled up most of my lemon balm. It has a wonderful smell when it is bruised, but being a member of the mint family will tell you just how quickly it will take over. Every year I still see a few plants poke up in various places. I will rip most of them out, but I do let a few small ones remain. One herb that has remained is my sweet woodruff. It really is my favorite ground cover. It spreads quickly and since it loves shade, it does wonderfully under trees and bushes. I have it planted around my rose of sharon. Since it spreads so quickly, it also cuts down on the amount of mulch I need each year. If it takes over an area, it is very easy to pull up. It also transplants easily. I have sometimes actually ripped it up and placed it elsewhere with no digging!
Sue

I have been away from this site for a long time and I now find this great forum- I feel I have really come home. Small gardens seem to be like the step child no one wants to know about. As if the person who has a small garden is not a REAL gardener !!!! We actually have more of a challenge and need to really know the plants we choose because we have limited space....Anyway.....We had to move my 3 yr old butterfly bush (they do get big very quickly)as it grew over the sidewalk and forced people to walk in the street- it seems to be doing OK after the move. I made the mistake of putting 2 sage bushes also near the sidewalk so you can imagine what the neighbors went through with them and the butterfly bush taking over the sidewalk. We dug up one sage and put it in a barrel which has contained it nicely. I do have to keep the sage left in the yard cut severely back but it seems to be handling the pruning rather well. This year I found MINIATURE hollyhocks from the mailorder nursery I use- I don't know if they are a new hybrid or not but I didn't have the room for the big ones which I love.They only get about 2 feet high. Looking forward to seeing them mature.....

Unfortunately, it's shady year 'round; it's on the north side of the apartment building, nestled in between my back porch steps and the metal steps to the upstairs apartments. If it ever gets direct sunlight it's only for an hour or so first thing in the morning.

But I like the idea of the bulbs; I'll have to start looking at those more seriously. Don't know why I never thought of that before -- thanks, Janet!

This year the spiny acanthus goes. It is beautiful, but it spreads and is a very big plant. Too big for my small garden.

And I'm giving up on the meadowsweet. Not enough bang for the space it takes.

Azaleas don't like my yard. I've finally given up on them too.

After one season I nuked the stokesia. Too big and weedy. Hops vine: ditto. Still fighting that battle.

And never ever allow your bronze fennel to go to seed. Ever.

By re-designing my back yard [17 x 17.5 feet] I've forced myself to edit and acknowledge what doesn't work - in fact what might be harming other plants. Ironically out went the Ferns - way to invasive. To satisfy my friends who say Fern's yard cannot be without a Fern, I am heading in the direction of a Japanese painted Fern - I've been wanting one for a long time so will satisfy myself. The cranesbill geraniums loved my yard, but didn't pack enough punch for the space they were taking up so a friend adopted them, the same with the ferns, some columbine, bearded iris, a strange fuzzy plant with beautiful purple flowers that was just too invasive and all of my mint. Never plant mint in the ground of a small yard. I'm making a promise to myself to steer clear of anything that advertizes itself as good for naturalizing. See I'm learning. I went to a garden talk this spring and the speaker suggested planting "new to you" perennials in a container for a summer - deciding whether you like them and then planting them. If not give them to a friend who likes them.

Fern, was it ostrich fern that you had? It's a spreader for sure. I haven't noticed any problems with any of the other ferns I have, but then again, I haven't had them long.

Ostrich ferns were coming up in the lawn across the yard, into the neighbours yard - through her cobblestones - fortunately a nice neighbour who actually saw some humour in the situation and decided she liked the effect. I'm planning on putting in some Japanese painted fern and possibly another taller variety if I can find a non aggressive one

Fern