Lovely

beautiful! so you and your husband has the same hobby? how nice! Do you guys fight over space? :D

Ha-ha! Actually, my husband (Hugh), just likes to look at them. I'm the only grower in the family. And I fight with myself over space! :))

agree, and it's so difficult to let go a plant.

Ohhh noooo!!! You mean I am supposed to get RID of some!!!! NEVER!!!! Rosie

I have no choice my plants start occupying my bed:D

good choice!

I know the feeling. Rosie

I have 4 or 5 plants ready to go on the chopping block. I’m bound and determined to keep my collection below 50 so when I decide that I don’t really really love a plant I either give it away or she goes onto the compost heap. As one AV blogger has said (can’t remember who), the trash bag is your friend!

Which verities are on the way out for you this time?

Since you asked, BaraYoukai, I have 2 Bishops I grew from a leaf pot that will be going somewhere. They're pretty enough pink flowers and growing well, but I have several other pinks that I love a lot, so these will find a new home. LE Mon Sen Michel, which is a pretty unusual flower, but isn't growing well for me, will go. Toronto Belle, a cute pink mini, with interesting foliage, but flowers are so-so, and a George McDonald hybrid I got from Moonlight Nurseries which has a number but no name will go. Wrangler's Gaudy Lady I'm sad about sending off, but it's one of those plants with cabbage -like flowers that never fully open, at least for me. I'm on the fence about a few others which had a gorgeous first bloom, but since then haven't been performing very well for some reason.

Judy.

Interesting analysis. People don't seem to like Bishop.

Do you have a club you could share/donate? Or neighbors? I have advertised in a neighborhood on-line bulletin board and donated many that way. It was surprising how many neighbors came and took many.

Also, I have fonated to schools . senior ladies and men in social centers. Small business owners. Employees in floral departments in stores that sell plants. Anyone who works in office cubicle. Perhaps churches that have families. Kids love AVs.

I was able to set up a small outdoor greenhouse in semi-shade so I am able to keep more this year. The weather has been fine. The plants have tolerated a range from 60 to 95. They are resilient.

Joanne

Hi Joanne,

I do have a club, and we did have a plant swap outside in Sept. where I did get rid of several plants, but of course came home with 2 - a strep and Harmony's Little Stinker, a leaf chimera. Couldn't pass those up, of course! I like your idea of advertising on-line. My town has a Facebook page, so I may do that - good thinking!

I agree with Judy's analysis... Le Mont Saint Michel has lovely blossoms, but rosette is just butt ugly, coarse thick olive leaves, yuck... Gaudy Lady - is for the people who like this broccoli type of flowers, if you don't - you don't. Why waste the real estate on something that doesn't speak to you. Bishop... It can be spectacular, but it is variable - the plant can grow pretty much plain boring hot pink flowers, and its littermate can grow tight broccoli green edged ones. I guess... in between is the one I would keep. The rosette... is also . the frillier the blossoms, the wavier the leaves.. the unrulier it looks. Toronto Belle has a super cute rosette - but the flowers are flimsy and age fast.

Irina, you are always right on the mark. I did just get rid of 5 plants. My friend and neighbor down my street almost always takes whatever I don’t want. I did hold onto Gaudy Lady and Toronto Belle for now. The latter has such pretty foliage that we’ll see how she develops. Gaudy Lady’s foliage is also beautiful, and since I have some room at the moment, I decided to keep her. We’ll see.

spiffy!

Judy, That's great, about your neighbor!

Joanne

How did I miss commenting on this thread! Must be the US election cycle that distracted me. Anyway, so many valuable remarks from so many respected and expert contributors, especially regarding evaluating what's worth keeping and what isn't. I'm well into a long life, and have "cleaned up" after deceased relatives, and have had to do emergency (due to imminent flooding) choices re what to keep and what to discard. I feel like I have a little bit of training in this regard, and I ought to trust it.

Not everything that is "alive!" (my husband could never stand to sacrifice any young tree, no matter how much it threatened other trees too near, and he always crammed our land, oh dear) is worth keeping. Sometimes it's better just to pitch stuff that's not Marie-Kondo-"bringing-you-joy".

If/when I decide to do that with regard to some of my violets, I'll do it with not only no regrets, but a sense of freedom, to explore other avenues. YAY for freedom.

Joan

Yes, she's a lifesaver for me, though she kills a lot of her violets! :(( By the way, I dumped Guday Lady. Flowers just don't open - couldn't justify it any more.

I am with you. This clone of Gaudy Lady is way too gaudy.

People can be truly awesome, but not gifted with plants. Not everybody is able to talk to them. It is a rare gift really. Some people see when pants are happy and when they are distressed... and others only see if the color of the pot matches the decor.

I. .

Judy and Irina,

Amusing comments from you!

I have learned that once a plant leaves my hands, I sometimes must tell the person that I do NOT want a report if they should be a plant-killer. It is heart-breaking. I also have had to tell them I do not "retain custody" if they come back in six months with a misshapen, neglected blob for me to "fix." I take them and pitch them on the way home.

There have been too many horror stories. If the plant does well, they often will send a photo.

But my favorite local plant supplier promised me free replacement if any of the AVs I buy from them dies! Their AV plants are amazing.

Joanne

You cannot win with the serial plants killers...

even when you give them advice the response is frequently, yes ... but I thought

Irina, I have seen the same thing happening way too often - people seeing only whether colors/form match what they want, rather than whether a plant can do well in its projected environment - in the world of hostas. I worked in a nursery for a time. Can't tell you how many times people came in asking for hostas to plant in full sun, because their neighbors had some that they liked and that they wanted to imitate. 😳 For sure those plants ended up being totally sun-bleached and gasping. (I saw some hostas planted with southern exposures throughout an entire subdivision on my most recent excursion to an AirBnb in an urban suburb, late August. Sickly, pathetic, and eye-roll-worthy.)

I look back on it now and wonder whether maybe those clients who wanted hostas to plant along the south sides of their decks had maybe seen hostas with sunlight on them only when they visited that particular garden, and didn't realize that for the rest of the day, that area had been shaded.

Anyway, most often I couldn't convince these determined clients that this was a bad idea. While the nursery got some sales in spite of my subversion (I really did try to redirect toward more suitable perennials), it hurt my heart to see those healthy plants headed toward Sun Hell.

Joanne, exactly. Once gifts leave our hands, they should be truly out of our hands. I've found that to be a very freeing principle, in so many ways.

Woodsidetrader, very true, sigh. But at least that's on them, then.

I was a Penn State Master Gardener for over 20 years. Rule #1: right plant / right place.

Hear, hear!!!