CMK, I should save your post for those times when I'm convinced that I'm a lousy gardener. I can remind myself that I have lots of beautiful monarda and foxglove. And some newer echinacea. :-)

I used to grow the annual Lavatera from seed. Gorgeous flower. But too many rabbits thought so, too.

Angel Face. I have tried so many times to grow this floribunda rose. I managed to get some marvelous blooms for my daughter's baby shower.......18 years ago. I probably bought four or five plants since then, but I eventually got smart, more or less, and gave up.

Anchusa. This member of the borage family looks lovely in catalog pictures. Those intensely blue flowers! What they don't show you is the massive amounts of coarse foliage. Enough is enough!

Austin roses. They're all lovely, but I'd be stupid to throw my money away on yet another one. Yes, Gertrude Jekyll bloomed beautifully for me for over 20 years. But she's probably the only one I'd be tempted to try again. My second GK lasted only four years. Golden Celebration, Grace, and Sharifa Asma are all gone. Abraham Darby is still here, but remains small. The Buck roses (and rugosas and the Explorers, plus a few others) do much better for me.

Susan

Lemon Thyme and Jasmine. I so want to be able to grow these but it just isn't in my cards. sad. very sad.

Asiatic and oriental lilies. I'm extremely allergic to the oriental blooms. I was continually fighting with the lily beetle on the asiatics and once the chipmunks started to shimmy up and eat the blooms I threw up the white flag.

Also gave up on "fancy" roses. I had swarms of japanese beetles in my yard when I had the roses and now I barely have any. I still have Fairy and Carpet roses and love them. No beetles, no black spot, etc.

Alisande, that is interesting about Anchusa. I have been thinking about trying it, but maybe will rethink that idea.

Delphiniums........and helenium.

I forgot to mention Agastache (foeniculum types are the only ones that will grow here). I lost two over the last winter, which I rather expected.
Penstemon (except 'Husker's Red'). Too wet here in the winter.

-Susan, I am having on and off success with the Austins. Several people have mentioned Buck roses, what is your favorite? I am going to look into them now...
CMK

I'm ready to give up on roses. Even the antique ones don't do well for me.

I used to think it was because they weren't getting enough sun, but I planted a Souvenir de la Malmaison last fall in full sun, soil amended w/compost and topped with same in the spring, watered deeply & regularly, sprayed once in a while with a dilution of fish emulsion & seaweed....and it just sits there. No blooms, no growth, nada. It won't even die so I could feel justified in ripping it out.

My Knock Outs, which any fool is supposed to be able to grow, look stunted and pathetic.

Phooey. (Can you tell I'm annoyed?)

Hollyhocks. I've seen Ford Pintos with less rust.

Tulips. I've had a love/hate relationship with tulips for years, chilling and planting with varying one-season success here where they are treated as annuals. Voles and tulip fire discouraged me from ever trying to grow them in the ground again.

Last fall I put good bulbs in two pots of good soil, slipped them into plastic bags, chilled in the extra fridge for weeks and weeks and brought them out. They sprouted and started to grow.

The new puppy ate them.

Nell

Let's see...there are actually a lot of these!

Dwarf iris - I hadn't realized quite how dwarf they would be! I'll stick with the full-size version.

Crocus - I got tired of them getting chomped before I could see the blooms. There might be a couple left at the old house from my original planting, but I won't be buying any more.

Delphiniums - I got lucky the first time I planted them, but now I'm scared to ever try them again! The second time was a very dry summer and I wasn't able to keep them going, and I haven't dared them since.

Catanache - they just withered and died when everything around it was fine. I think they just wanted a sandier soil.

Campanula carpatica blue clips - I tried them twice. No dice - never did anything and disappeared on me.

Not sure if I'll try penstemon again or not. None of mine came back - not sure if it was that the winter was too wet or what. Same with the persicaria - but they self-seeded a couple, so we'll see what happens with those.

I gave up on Black-eyed susan's 4 yrs ago.

Oh. . .I want to try some of that Cantananche. They're pretty! And I have some very sandy spots!

Susan, I'm with you on the anchusa. I was very disappointed with that.

And sadly I join others in saying delphiniums. I had one successful year of them... the most gorgeous eye-popping blue flowers, but I just can't get them past the seedling stage without them becoming a slug buffet. Ditto salpiglossis.

I'm almost-but-not-quite ready to give up on sweet peas and lupins for the same slimey reason :(

And morning glories. I had them just one year, with tremendous painstaking care, in pots, which I had to bring indoors every night.

Amaranthus! I planted a whole packet of Hopi Red Dye seeds, saw tiny red seedlings come up, and then they were gone. Ditto with the tricolor amaranthus. I don't know what happened there.

So happy you started this thread..now I don't feel so alone.

I cannot grow purple coneflowers-keep trying, but no luck. They wave at me as I walk by them at the nursery(can plants point and laugh?)
I also kill lavender, all varieties, slow malingering death. Me wringing my hands above them....

And lets not start with the gardenia-the all time favorite thread. (Suicidal gardenia)

After years of trying I think I have had some luck with a bleeding heart-I keep checking it, it seems happy, so far...I will keep my fingers crossed.

Cosmos--of all things! Love 'em, but can't seem to keep them alive apst a few weeks---they just shrivel up and die. :(

Hostas. They just dwindle away to nothing. They don't like our heat and humidity. I've started using Peacock gingers instead.
Jim

I've given up on alyssum. I love the scent, and that white fluffy look, but that's NOT how it looks in my yard! I even dug happy, blooming plants out of my mom's yard and brought them to mine--they never bloomed again. I just don't have enough sun for it.

Crape myrtles that will grow up and be large trees. We just don't have enough of the hot weather they need to get large. So I think I'm going to have to spring for one that's already 10' high.

columbine. Everybody has them around me and they are gorgeous, but mine do nothing and then finally don't come back at all.

Jim

Foxglove. :-( Mine was BEAUTIFUL last year, but I had no idea it was kind of a one off type of plant. Too bad because they are gorgeous in a cottage garden.

Gardenias,can't grow these things for love nor money.Blackeyed susans,hollhocks,delphiniums,pink bleeding hearts.None of these things will grow for me.
Kathi

I've given up on growing Astilbe and Lady's Mantle.

Had a nice clump of Lady's Mantle once. I had a dickens of a time keeping it going the first year. The following year it grew much bigger & bloomed, but nothing remarkable like I have seen in other people's photos and magazines. Still, my heart soared and I had hopes for having a beautiful bed of it. Then it died back to the ground and that was that. It did not reseed.

Similar story with various clumps of Astilbe I've planted over the years. Pitiful little blooms that the wind blew them to heck and then they died.

Not worth the trouble or expense. Too dry and too hot here I suppose.

~Annie

mignionette, didn't have any fragrance and is not that pretty to warrant the space.
tulips Deer ate them,
and I'm about done with lilies, they are constantly under attack from something!
roseberri