U is for “What would U plant?”

Okay that is kind of cheating. I thought of Umbrella palm, but I don’t own one. I’ve not been very successful with palms in general. I think they need more humidity and light than I’ve given them.

I did think about using Ulm which is the Genus name for elms, but I don’t have much of a history with elms so that seemed out of character.

My husband shouted “Eucalyptus”, but I reminded him that it starts with an ‘e’. Besides I’m not a fan of eucalyptus. If you live in Australia where it is native I can see growing it, but ask the people in California where it was introduced and now is a ‘pest’ plant how they feel about it.

So back to “U”, What is your favorite plant? For the garden, for the table, the most difficult, the easiest, the one that makes you think of a family member. I’ll go first…but these will be plants I’ll never plant again.

This is kind of like the reverse of the Will Rogers’ saying, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” There are very few plants I’ve met that I didn’t like. But.. here are my UnLoved. The ones I would recommend NOONE should plant.

Houttuynia cordata comes to mind, ugh. (Also called chameleon plant…don’t be fooled.) We had it in Japan and it was nice where it was growing and my husband and I saw it in a nursery here in Tulsa and he encouraged me to buy some because he liked it in Japan. Big mistake. If you look it up it will warn you it is INVASIVE. Can I shout it loudly enough? Just don’t. That and although it is called ‘chameleon’ plant and shows pretty green/white/pink colors, mine has all reverted to just green and it has a medicinal smell I don’t like when you crush it, which you will be doing as you try to pull those runners up!

Looks pretty, doesn’t it? Don’t fall for its lies!

Next – ragweed. I made the mistake, for a season, thinking what I was looking at was chrysanthemum leaves. I’ve been paying for it ever since. I sit on a stool in that section of garden each year digging deeply small section by small section, taking every tiny piece of plant material and am still battling it. Someone is probably thinking, ‘Just spray that $#!& with some weed killer!” Two reasons, 1) I have other plants that would get a hit no matter how carefully I tried not to, and 2) I really don’t like using that kind of $#!& of chemicals on ecosystems and would rather just put in the elbow grease in my little corner of the world..

See what I mean about looking like chrysanthemum? Sort of?

Okay that’s off my chest.

‘What about dandelions?’ I hear you ask. What about them? I can pull them if I get with it. Again some elbow grease and if the weather is nice it is a pleasant time sitting on my butt. But they do feed helpful insects so if I’m a little slow it isn’t the end of the world and they really don’t spread as fast as that $#!& ragweed and houttuynia. I also recall I did a research study on Taraxacum officinale when I was in college, which taught me a few things about dandelions I didn’t know. And then there was the time my grandmother made dandelion wine in her bathtub and one of my cousins got a little tipsy on it when grandma brought out the finished product for drinking. So dandelions seem kind of like family. Hmmm, if I had printed out it’s proper name is Taraxacum officinale, I could have used dandelions for “X” day. Naw.

After all my posts about flowers and plants I love, I’m sure this one is kind of a one-off. And none of these pictures are mine…I wouldn’t give camera space to any of them…they might take over the whole thing!

What would you plant again? What would you never give garden space?