It's odd how some things do well for some people and not others like my Clethra has done exceptionally well.
I've only gotten rid of unruly garden plants. I've killed a few not on purpose of course, and that is disappointing, but I don't consider it a total failure until I've achieved death a few times, lol.
Things I've dug out are:
Lathyrus latifolius (Sweet Pea vine)- It was the most unruly vine I've ever grown. Plus it reseeded everywhere. Digging out the taproot was a horrible experience too since it was right next to the fence. My husband actually felt bad and came out with an ax after awhile to help me, lol.
Artemisia vulgaris 'Oriental Limelight'(Variegated Mugwort)- It is pretty, but grows like a weed. In a huge garden it would probably be very nice.
Cornus(Dogwood) shrub- it was a suckering kind. That was also awful trying to remove.
A small native rose transplanted from our cottage- in good garden soil, it suckered everywhere!
I feel like there's a few more, but I can't remember right now.
Remy

Monarda didyma. They grew fine, huge actually, but were covered in powdery mildew before they ever bloomed. Then when they bloomed, they weren't red like the tag said, they were a washed out lavender. I dug them up and threw them in the trash can the day the blooms opened! So I bought a mid-season replacement, Phlox 'Orange Perfection'. Then, when they bloomed, they weren't orange, but hot pink, and were also covered with mildew. I potted those up to give to a neighbor, but they died while I was on vacation last year. The "new" replacement is Gaillardia 'Burgandy', which better not bloom pink or purple, LOL!!!

Bonnie

mxk, I was disappointed with my endless summer too. This was it's second summer so I thought the first year it might have just been putting on root growth. At least I only bought one. Anita

Agree about Clethra. However, I admit that my two plants were competing for soil with two trees. I may try again in a wet spot without tree roots.

I just bought and planted two Endless Summer plants last year. Wasnt impressed with the first years performance, but hope for more this year.

Knockout rose was a huge flop for me. The spot I planted them has given me fits all along though. Crumbly, very black,( and perhaps) acidic soil that was excavated from the 10 acre pond in our subdivision.

It is always about right plant, right place, isn't it?
Pondy

Hmmm...I think i'm the only person that killed lily of the valley.

coreopsis 'early sunrise' - I planted a bunch of these from seed - they are really easy to grow from seed except now that they are plants I just think they are ugly, weedy looking things - but since they are my "babies" I felt compelled to keep them. This summer, I vow to pot them up and give them away.

I vote for clethra too. Tried several different cultivars all died. Soil is too alkaline. Also Itea 'Henry's Garnet'. Species grows great for me but not Henry. Yanked it out last year. Peony 'Charles Burgess' 4 years in the ground for a total of 4 blooms (2 in year 2 & 2 in year 3), none last year. I hear the compost pile calling!

I wonder what I've got that my Clethra likes. It is not acid soil, because I don't have that. The spot does stay pretty moist until late summer, but it is not real wet except for early spring. I've got it growing next to my huge Fantin Latour rose and the rose does give it some shade. It did not bloom well the first couple years, so it does need some time to settle in. The link is a pic of it. It is not the best pic. My dog's back is the photo, but it is the only one I have. I must of been in a hurry. The small flowers above it are from a 'Betty Corning' Clematis that I have growing through the rose.
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:199268}}

Shastas didn't do well for me, either, last summer (their first year in this garden). Floppy plants with wavy stems as a result. Small, crumpled flowers. I got rid of all but two and will try to get those staked this year. If they still look floppy and deforned, out they go.

Belladonna delphinium. This has been a heartbreaker for me because I love the sky blue flowers, but I can't get one to last even through one growing season. :-(

Flowering almond. I thought my z5 garden was just too cold, but it doesn't seem to like z 6/7 either. It may finish dying this year without help from me.

'Madonna' sambucus. Very nice yellow/green variegated leaves, but for the last three years, the foliage shrivels up and falls off in late summer (yes, I water it; no, I don't drown it). The white/green variegated sambucus is thriving.

Anemone 'Robustissima'. This plant is a thug for everyone except me. I've planted three or four divisions. They struggle through the planting year, return in spring, put up a flowering stalk which then turns brown and dies. I've never seen it bloom.

Sometimes I wonder why I mess around with gardening!

Well Clethra is right up there on my not so great list too. I've worked in some soil sulphur the last two years and it looked marginally better than it had before. That's not saying much though. Fanfare Gaillardia, when I killed the first one I figured it was a drainage problem and put the 2nd one in a raised bed. Still didn't make it through a zone 4 winter. Sunrise and Sunset echinacea were two more that didn't meet expectations. Sunrise hung on through the past two winters, this one still remains to be seen. Last summer it feebly pushed out 3 or 4 blooms but the petals remained rolled quill-like. Unless it shows miraculous vitality this spring (assuming it's alive) I think it'll hit the compost heap. I may be one of the few people out there who is really happy with Endless Summer. The past two summers each of my three had at least 15- 20 blooms on at any given time all summer.

I love, love, love my Endless Summer Hydrangeas. They are absolutely carefree and bloom from spring to frost without fail. Maybe it's our climate. Mine even get more sun than they ought to, and they still keep chugging along. Ditto for Blushing Bride.

Failures? I've had plenty. Clethra for me too. It lives alright. It runs all over the place, putting its stems up in the most unexpected places, but does it bloom? NO. For my money, it's nothing but a weed with a good marketing program.

Coreopsis of all kinds are on my Ugh list. They come back. They bloom...once. But who has time to deadhead ten million seed heads? And if you just cut the whole plant back, ala Tracy DiSabato, the plant takes so long to bounce back that the tiny little repeat bloom wasn't worth the trouble.

My biggest loser, though, is probably Phlox Paniculata. This is supposed to be one of the easy, backbone type perennials in the south. No way. I tried everything I ever heard or read for ten years, and finally realized it was the plants, not me.

Ahhhh. I feel better now. :)

I guess I've been lucky, but I have several clethras and they've all done well for me with no special care. This is Ruby Spice last summer. It's always bloomed well for me.
{{gwi:199270}}
It does run a bit.

My Endless Summer hydrangea has done well for me too. Last year it started blooming in early/mid June and continued until frost. Here's a photo in mid September showing a new (bluish) flower with old flowers in the background that have faded to dark pink.
{{gwi:199272}}

One plant I've had bad luck with is sedum Matrona. I've planted it several times in different places and it always rots for me.

Campanula takesimana "Bellringers" has been disappointing because it's done too well. It is trying to take over the garden and I'm having a very hard time getting rid of it.

Juliet

Wow, Juliet, that Ruby Spice is gorgeous! Thanks for that picture - I am planting some of these this spring and was getting concerned from some of these posts, but you've given me renewed hope, lol!

:)
Dee

Oh yeah - I thought of another one: sedum "Frosty Morn." Most of the new growth is just plain ol' green. When I pinch it all off and there's practically nothing left.

This post is such a good example of right plant, right place. Like several east coast, acid soil posters, I find that both clethra and H. 'Endless Summer' do well for me. They like the neutral to acid soil, are easy care, and look good all season. If I lived somewhere that many other H. macrophylla grew, I might grow them instead, but it's one of only a few (I also have 'Penny Mac') that will actually survive around here, and both bloom prolifically all season and the large foliage is a handsome complement to the finer foliage of many perennials.

I've often wondered who would be crazy enough to put Eupatorium in a garden bed and like it, since around here it's a seriously self-seeding weed, but I recently read that it's only in cooler areas with moist acid soil like mine that it's so unruly. So folks in other parts of the country find it a great plant, but after one experience (and I'm still removing seedlings after three years) I know I'd never plant any Eupatorium again.

I think my most disappointing perennials have been those that selfseeded obnoxiously since it's so much work to eliminate them. Right now, I'm trying to get rid of most of the tall phlox which loves my garden a bit too much.

Tall Phlox has been a loser for me. I have yet to get one to go. My Endless Summer Hydrangeas were planted in too much sun and promptly croaked. Perhaps I'll try one again this year in less sun- though I'm now less enthusiastic about it. My 'Oranges and Lemons' Gaillardia was gorgeous last year and seems to have returned this year for another go-round. I can't say the same for the 'Fanfare' Gaillardia- the marketing was the most 'fanfare' thing about it. The 'Oriental Limelight' artemesia has been thugish for me. I really love the color so I haven't tried to totally eradicate it but this may be the year that changes.

Hardy fuschia. Wimpy tender little things that you needed a magnifying glass to see.

After listening to all the gripping I am going to go out and pull up my clethra. It has done nothing for several years and I might as well cut my losses and plant something that will do well.

I have killed clethra twice as well (I have a rule about killing things 3 times and giving up).

First time I bought 2 small plants, 4 or so inch pots. They died quickly after transplant. Next I bought a 2 gal plant (it was mighty expensive, but we had a gift certificate and there was nothing else they had that really struck me at the time). It struggled along, put up 2-3 spires of flowers and didn't return the next year.

I'm not likely to waste space trying clethra again.

~Chills

Same here for me - Sedum Matrona - I've bought them every year thinking I would find maybe another place for them to thrive (less water, more sun, etc. etc.). But no matter where they are put, they just end up looking terrible and/or dying. No more matrona for me!

Also, my endless summers bloom only once - I wonder if there may be a secret to getting them to bloom again - better deadheading, no deadheading, more fertilizer, more sun, etc. etc. Cannot figure out why mine are not putting on the show they claim to do.

Carrie

Polmonium (Jacob's Ladder)'Alba', 'Blue Whirl',(3)
'Heavenly Habit', and 'Stairway to Heaven'
They're not as cold hardy as they say. None of them made it through the first winter.

Should I give up on Jacob's Ladder?...LOL...Marylee

Marylee - the plain 'ol no-name green variety of Jacob's Ladder does beautifully in my area, maybe you could give that a try if you have your heart set on J.L.

I've grown a few polemoniums. With the exception of p. reptans (which I think is native here), they haven't been terribly long-lived for me, but I should think they could make it through a Kentucky winter. I grew 'Blue Whirl' from seed, and it was probably a three- or four-year plant. I suspect they resent drought or heat more than they do cold, but I don't know for sure.

I've certainly been disappointed with some plants. I won't even list the ones where my disappointment has to do with either their disappearance or aggression. There are plenty of those. Beyond that, I have a five-foot tall perennial hibiscus I haven't yet managed to identify, and I'm always wishing its flowers were a little bigger and brighter. I think I have a little clethra coming from Bluestone. Hope I like it better than some of you!

Thanks mxk3 and dirtdiver for the recommendations, I'll have to try them, I would really like to grow JL.
I just love the foliage and the flowers are pretty too.

Dirtdiver-I have really nice plants through the Spring and Summer, but they never come back the following Spring,
(that's why I thought it must be the cold weather). I'm not really sure what I do to them, Oh well, it's not like they're the first plant I've ever killed and I'm sure they won't be the last!...LOL...Marylee

Marylee--is it possible your polemoniums are rotting over winter? I think they like that oxymoron-sounding ideal condition of moist, well-drained soil. If you have a lot of clay, maybe it's heavy in the winter. My beds are all rather sandy and definitely well-drained (but not always moist, which is why I think I eventually lose the p. caeruleum types). Stairway to Heaven, which is in the 'reptans' club, has had the good grace to keep on coming back. And we had some wicked cold snaps this past winter.

Echinacea Ruby Star. It didn't grow or put out more blooms. It was all together lackluster and got tossed. Would love to have one that is raved about as they look beautiful.

Marylee, I'm in 6a and have quite a few Polemonium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven' and all of them keep coming back. Most are in partial shade with a few in full sun. None are in wet winter soil areas. It is the only variegated Jacob's ladder that has ever overwintered for me. Now there is a new variegated P. reptans called 'Touch of Class' which has whiter variegation as opposed to cream. I'm waiting to see if it overwintered.

I love posts like this. Makes me feel soooooooo much better that other people are out there struggling!! :)

Obedient plant is up there for me. Planted it and it has done nothing but struggle along looking unimpressive. And this point, I LOVE anything that acts invasive. It's such a nice change from things dying!

I don't have any problems with shasta daisies or blackeyed susan's they multiply like crazy.

But...give me a rose and I'll kill it. I would love to have a beautiful rose garden but everyone I try to plant I kill.

So I quit spending the money on them.

I have never tried clethra and after reading all the post I think I'll stay away from that one also.

Sorry guys-forgot where I posted...LOL... Has anyone on here ever done that before? Anyway, I think you guys are right, what's happening is my Jacob's Ladders are rotting.
Soooo, I'm going to change the location and see if that helps. I have some coming up that I wintersowed(they're
supposed to be yellow)that I have never tried before.
I don't think I'll give up trying to grow them just yet, I like them to well. I guess I'll see how many more I can kill, maybe set a record or something...LOL...I REALLY hope that's just a joke!!!...Marylee

Dicliptera suberecta- very attractive mat w/ silvery fuzzy leaves and small orange hummingbird flowers. I saw it in a planting at Plant Delights (Raleigh NC) and really loved it. Alas, it disappeared after just a few short months. Too dry? But, at the nursery it was landscaped on a dry-looking bank. Of course, the soil there is probably not sand. Really disappointing. I might try again, but plant elsewhere.
Also, sedum has proven not to be nearly as hardy as it's made out to be, though the Blue Spruce one has done well for me, others haven't, especially kamich (well, whatever that variety was called). Several other sedums seem to still be struggling along- waiting to see what survives the heat and sand. Brandy

DtD...have you tried some of the shorter varieties like Becky Shasta Daisy? I started some from seed, winter sowing last winter and had blooming plants by the end of the summer. They were very neat and under a foot tall with plenty of blooms. I also had an Alaska, that was a horror. Floppy, sparse, short bloom period, bugs, compost pile. I will let you know how the Snowcap and Becky do this summer. :-)

The new Echinaceas have been a bust for me. I found the new orange color so exciting but after paying the premium for them, they didn't come back the next year.

Clethra...this will be year 3 with 'Hummingbird' in zone 6. It barely survived the winter of 2006/07. It came back slowly and needed cutting back to new growth and never bloomed last summer. It is not in the best area either, near tree roots, not very moist, not as much sun as it would like maybe. I will see how it does this year.
We had so much snow cover, that it should have sailed through the winter.

Sedum Matrona...I had it in full sun all day for seven years and it was gorgeous. I moved it to the back of the house where I thought the sun would be fine, although it wasn't all day, but more like 6hours, but it has done nothing but flop since I moved it. It can be a handsome plant with enough sun when it is happy.

Endless Summer is the first Hydrangea that actually blooms reliably for me. I didn't have as much bloom last year, it's second. I do have it in a lot of shade. I have two babies that I am going to try in more sun, so we will see. I also added a lot of composted cow manure last fall, so I hope that helps too. I would be interested to know if anyone fertilizes theirs?

I don't have my garden notes, this minute, but I did a summary at the end of the year listing all my disappointments and all my successes, so I will come back after I have had a look at it.

Great idea for a post this time of year, when everyone is ordering plants.

:-)

I have to comment on the last post about Becky Shasta Daisy. It really performs better for me than any other shasta daisy I've grown. Personally, I thought Alsaka looked almost weedy--some varieties that I liked such as Esther Read and Crazy Daisy were not very hardy and short lived.

Woodyswife...thanks for sharing your perspective. I have to agree, the Alaska was so unsatisfactory for me that I am adding it to the compost heap and won't even share it at a swap. I saw that Esther Read somewhere but haven't got it yet. I bought the Wirral Pride variety at Bluestone Perennials last year and they were attractive with only a few blooms by the end of the first growing season. I will report back after seeing what they do this year.

pm2

Several years ago I ripped out all other varieties of shasta daisies other than 'Becky'. Becky far surpasses all the others I've tried - much sturdier (never flops), blooms like crazy for a long period of time, especially if deadheaded regularly. It is very vigorous and does 'creep' - it tends to die out on one side and grow from the opposite side so, over time, I've ended up with rivers of 'Becky' moving through the big front bed. On the whole, its growth habit is not a problem and I find it attractive but, be aware that it will spread!
{{gwi:199275}}

(I'm not related to the poster called 'woodyswife'... :-)

I feel bad about Coconut Lime echinacea. I spent $18!! + $8 for shipping from White Flower Farms for it last spring. When it came it was the tiniest little thing not even and inch tall. Last year by the end of the summer, it only made one flower. It was cool looking flower that bloomed for a long time. But this spring the plant seems to be gone. What a waste of money.

Okay, you guys are making me nervous about the 'Alaska White' daisies that I wintersowed last year. I didn't get blooms last summer, but I have two healthy looking clumps this spring. I'll try not to judge them until I see them bloom this year, but at least I know what to replace them with if they disappoint. I also planted 'Fiona Coghill' daisies late last year, which I am also waiting to see bloom this year. Anyone tried that one?

Bonnie

I'm thinking most of the soils you guys have is not acidic enough for Clethra. I thought most sedums could last forever. Could be too much moisture?

@ Leslie's..... Frosty Morn, as with other variegated sedums, does best to hold its colours in full sun exposure...at least here, in my zone 5. I've had that one for three years now and while not so robust, it holds its beautiful foliage really well in a dry, windy, sun-exposed location. Fwiw.

Give the plant a chance. And that includes planting a number of the same plant in different locations within a garden.

Example: most perennial painted daisies I've planted have died within a few years.

But when they like the spot they were planted in, they stayed on living.

I think the plant below is probably close to ten years old.

June 10, 2014.

Somewhere I read nursery growers nicknamed "it" Endless Bummer" Lots of customer complaints. I gave up on the "new echs" about 5 years ago when a small fortune's worth of Saul''s echs died: all the sunrise and sunsets., pink poodle, double delights. Never again. There are some tried and true ones. but they aren''t very new.

I have to go out, but if I had time to really get started I could go on forever.

Marie

I'll have to agree with Sunny...location, location, location!

What works in my zone 5, Ontario (cold winters, lots of snow!) re Jacob's Ladder:. Blue flowered go in sun, white flowered ones in morning sun only (will take sun till 1:30) regardless of foliage colour. 5 years and counting. Uprooted white one, stuck in pot for the winter without adding any additional soil (gasp) and it just keeps going....awaiting replanting...had to make room for hostas, lol. Oh yes, almost forgot...water only if no rainfall.

Further to Josephine's comment re location and shading.

We're zone 5 too.

I think staggering perennials by bloom time (which is very often related to flowering height) can be a way to providing summer shading for spring perennials.

Below is last May 20.

By July most of these spring plants were covered up (shaded) by the foliage of flowering summer plants.

I personally believe that, in this situation, it is advisable to cut summer perennials back (after blooming) in order to allow light through to the spring perennials.

That doesn't mean there's no flowering by fall plants. It's just that, at least here and in my experience, a mixed perennial bed is somewhat more open in fall than the same bed in summer.

Have we got all night? It is not that I have high standards (ha, mine are practically subterranean) but having been there, done that, I am bored, bored, bored. 3 seasons of looking at the same plant is 2 seasons too many....although I expect this childish and shallow trait to fade a bit now I have acreage. Anyhow, even discounting terminal ennui, there are a few absolute stinkers - one so awful I took many photos of the horror in case I ever appeared to weaken. Stand up (or rather lie down, ) coreopsis. Any of them. They all obligingly died before I could get the spade out (so I suppose that is a bonus).
Hostas - true, I don't really care for them but have a foliage loving household so feel obliged to keep trying. I have tried nematodes, chemical death, all those gritty, spiky things (my snails are all into S&M, whip me, they love it). moats, copper, even night patrols several times a night, wearing a stupid headlamp...and I still have frilly, holey, ravaged leafage within a week or so of the first emergence. I also really, really do not like that pallid, pasty lilac flower (and for some reason, I never seemed to get a white flowered one).

Because I grow most of them from seed and have failed to implement any sort of plan, I have a tendency to go for plants which I have never seen (or even heard of) but they look interesting so unsurprisingly, many of them are dubious (under my slapdash regime).
Then there is a long, long list of plants I used to love...then didn't - some of them have cycled round and back again (hardy geraniums).

Campanula.... so you've never found a nice white flowered Hosta?... well, to be honest, I don't like Hosta's all that much, but this one I always thought better than most, although some think the flowers are dumpy... Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans'... most of the foliage also remained clean, I don't think this was one of their favourites...

..however, for all that, I did get rid of it in the end.... I just couldn't fall in love with these plants...

...gone the way of so many roses...

Night's no good to me; sunlight is.

I wouldn't say I'm that organized in perennial gardening; my basic strategy being to find out what plants work here and rely primarily on a self-selected team.

I garden very primarily for flower colour and since most perennials are in flower for only several weeks, it's hard to get bored with any of them. The one requirement is a team that carries changing flower colour through the growing season.

I do appreciate the situation with annual gardening or with monoculture. It is understandable why my spouse's grandfather moved on from a garden full of beautiful dahlias on to a garden full of beautiful roses.

I also really appreciate the potential (for my interests) of having a sunny location in a place where there's our marked seasonality.

Following Marlorena's pic and comment....the biggest (longest) WHITE FRAGRANT flowers (6") belong to a hosta called Plantaginea. They are nocturnal (open in the evening until mid-day, next day), very fragrant and stunning.

I have this ugly wall next to the driveway that I plan on covering with veneer stone in the future. What perennial can I plant that will trail over? Combination of bushes/flowers? I usually plant proven winners snow princess and petunias. They look beautiful all summer but I spend a fortune on them and it is bare in winter and spring.

Jamie, many people may not see your post as won't expect it in this posting as it is a different subject. Please start a new thread with your question.

I am a clematis collector and could see some nice clematis trailing down the wall or growing up a support next to the wall.

Gaillardia, Rudbeckia (not BES varieties), platycodon are all losers for me. The first two I plant as annuals (if I plant them at all), the last one is a lost cause. A recent disappointment for me has been two tall veronicas I lost from the winter. Not sure what the deal with that is.