Plants you love (and those you hate!)

[zweena 10]

I reckon we'll let you! In fact, there's quite a few things on houseplants I could ask...

[pattricia 578]

My favourite plants have always been Hydrangeas.Long flowering period,lovely large blooms and not attacked by anything.Most of mine are pink but I have a lovely pure white one.The only thing they lack is scent.If they had that they would be the perfect shrub.

[Tracie 10]

Hydrangeas are beautiful. If yours are pink, pattricia, then chances are the soil you are growing them in is neutral or slightly alkaline - if you have slightly acidic soil, the blooms tend towards mauve or blue Sometimes gardeners force the blue colour by using a 'blueing compound' containing aluminium sulphate to lower the pH of the soil. My nan used to do this with her hydrangeas occasionally - as a kid I thought it was brilliant!

[Tracie 10]

Does anyone have an idea what it is? Its an house plant by the way.

 

If you take a photo of it janny, you could start a thread in here and see if anyone can identify it for you. Actually, it would be great to have a 'help me identify this plant' thread going, because I also have a houseplant that I have absolutely no idea what it is! I bet other forummers have mystery plants out there too!

[Guest]

Favourite plant: Sweet peas. For their beauty, perfume and the enormous number of different varieties.

 

Least favourite: Japanese knotweed and bindweed. There's a huge crop of the former growing at the bottom of next door's garden through which the bindweed grows with amazing enthusiam. Unfortunately, it fails to smother the knotweed.

 

As for cultivated plants, I'm not a fan of dahlias. I think the flowers are pretty ugly, plus they're hugely attractive to earwigs .

[taxman 12]

Favourite plant: Sweet peas. For their beauty, perfume and the enormous number of different varieties.

 

Least favourite: Japanese knotweed and bindweed. There's a huge crop of the former growing at the bottom of next door's garden through which the bindweed grows with amazing enthusiam. Unfortunately, it fails to smother the knotweed.

 

As for cultivated plants, I'm not a fan of dahlias. I think the flowers are pretty ugly, plus they're hugely attractive to earwigs .

 

Japanese Knotweed - the bane of a Ranger's life. I've spent so many hours bashing the stuff and it just comes back. Paraffin or a tactical nuclear strike are about the only things that will get rid of it

[Guest]

Japanese Knotweed - the bane of a Ranger's life. I've spent so many hours bashing the stuff and it just comes back. Paraffin or a tactical nuclear strike are about the only things that will get rid of it

You have to admire its tenacity in a way. When it first started to encroach on my garden, I spent ages trawling the web for ways to get rid of it. Apart from discovering that it can regenerate to its former glory from the tiniest bit of root/rhizome, I couldn't find a sure-fire method; apart from digging it up, of course. Given that its roots descend metres into the soil, it's easier said than done. When we put up the new fence last summer, I spent ages hacking away at the stuff and attacking the roots, so I speak from bitter experience

 

I also read that it's so hardy that it can force its way through the tarmac on roads!

[torin8 10]

I would have to say that Clematis and Acers are my fave plants - as for ones I hate I'll have to think on that one! Oh an I love meadow flowers!

[taxman 12]

I also read that it's so hardy that it can force its way through the tarmac on roads!

 

Yes I've heard that Eco warrior types protesting against road building schemes often plant it so that the road crumbles years later. Not sure if this is fact or myth

 

It can be poisoned I think and I'm sure it can be eaten - the stem pulp is a bit like rhubarb

[Guest]

Yes I've heard that Eco warrior types protesting against road building schemes often plant it so that the road crumbles years later. Not sure if this is fact or myth

 

It can be poisoned I think and I'm sure it can be eaten - the stem pulp is a bit like rhubarb

It's a small picture, but here's one I found of the knotweed peeking through the road surface. Not sure if the cracks were there already for the knotweed to take advantage of, but it's certainly doing a good job of working its way through the road substrata.

 

The mature stems are hollow, a bit like bamboo, so it's probably the young bits of the plants that can be eaten.

[madowl 10]

foxgloves and bluebells are my fave.... love the flowers on the 'Poached Egg Plant'... if anyone has any seeds..... hint,hint;) my back garden at my old house was covered in egg plants.... havent seen it for years though...

 

I know bindweed is a pain in the garden but i like to see the flowers, looks great when its thick and in flower in the wild... the only plant i hate would have to be ....... nettles hate the things.

[Guest]

... know bindweed is a pain in the garden but i like to see the flowers, looks great when its thick and in flower in the wild... the only plant i hate would have to be ....... nettles hate the things.

The flowers are lovely, but it can do some real damage to less hardy plants by suffocating the life out of them. It's another plant whose roots burrow very deep into the soil and can regenerate from the tiniest bit, so it can be hellish if it gets into a bed of established plants.

 

I've grown Morning Glory from seed. They're a little delicate, and you need a nice, warm, south-facing wall for most of them, but they're a sort of cultivated variety of the bindweed. Not sure if they're actually related, but they're very similar in appearance, except with larger and more colourful flowers.