Your plant nemesis

[bridgetmkennitt]

We all have at least one. It's that plant that you try to grow and grow, but for some reason or another, it just dies or doesn't bloom or doesn't grow any vegetables.

What plant do you consider your nemesis?

Comments

[malnpudl]

I have to open this with the obvious: Himalayan Blue Poppy (meconopsis betonicifolia)

When I lived in the eastern -- which is to say hotter and drier -- part of the San Francisco Bay area, I tried and failed three times to grow this. Because I never give up on anything until I've killed it three times. (That's a thing for most gardeners, right? The three-times thing?)

Now I live up in the NW corner of California, only about 10 miles inland from the coast and on a bluff over a river valley. Which is to say, I'm now in the right climate to grow my nemesis... except that pretty much all I have is full sun. I'm still going to try it again one of these days. Because now I get three more tries, right? :-D

[ravena_kade]

Coneflower. For some reason something usually eats it totally or birds cut the flowers off. The black eyed susan form can almost be considered a weed, but something kills it in my yard. If it does survive the season it dies over the winter. I have no idea why.

[bridgetmkennitt]

*cheers you on* You totally have three more tries.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Oddly enough, coneflower. (and shasta daisy, but really, that's less odd than coneflower.)

[bridgetmkennitt]

A comment above you also has coneflower as their nemesis, so you're not alone!

[3rdragon]

Radishes. Everyone says "They're easy! Grow them with your kids!" and sometimes they don't sprout, and sometimes they sprout but don't radish, or occasionally they do radish but only very small bitter rocks with worm holes in them. This year we gave up on watermelon radishes and are going for something with a short time to maturity, and they've sprouted and are making true leaves, at least. So we'll see.

(Hi, I'm Miriam, and I'm new here.)

[theora]

Yes! I also fail at radishes. Mostly they don't bulb up, but I am also acquainted with the "very small bitter rocks with worm holes in them" you describe. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. But I've given up and now grow salad turnips (Hakurei is the variety I like), which do work reliably and taste nicer too. They do take about a week or two longer than radishes, however. 35 days.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Hello and welcome!

I've heard radishes are easy, but I dunno. I feel like I fail at everything. I may try for radishes this summer and see if my streak continues. Their tastiness beckons me to give it a try.

[daidoji_gisei]

French tarragon. I love it, but it will not grow for me. Maybe it hates clay soils? I'm baffled.

[theora]

Data point: it grows like gangbusters for me in dry, sandy, rocky, infertile soil that's pretty much the opposite of clay. So it could be a soil thing.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Stupid French tarragon. It should learn how to be loved in return.

[malnpudl]

Oh, man. That one is tricky. I can sometimes get it to work in a pot, at least for a couple of years at a whack, but never in the ground.

[ladybrooke]

Hydrangeas. I have tried everything - sun! shade! Growing it in a pot so that I can move it around into the perfect about of sun every day regardless of what the weather is, even if that means moving it under an umbrella.

They won't grow. Every other flower, no matter how picky, that I've wanted I've managed to grow. These won't, and it's upsetting.

[bridgetmkennitt]

That's a shame. Hydrangeas are so pretty. :(

My mom is really good at growing orchids, but I've always been terrible with them. I've come to the point to not even try for orchids and now I have fake orchids. My mom thinks this is hilarious.

[loligo]

Despite all the jokes about the amazing profligacy of zucchini, I have never gotten more than one or two squash off of a plant, and I have finally given up. (But I've never had a true "full sun" spot to plant them in, either.)

[bridgetmkennitt]

D'aww :(

Yes, I'll totally go with the full sun spot thing. Not your fault at all!

[gchick]

I've killed mint. Worse, I've repeatedly killed mint, both in multiple gardens and on multiple attempts in the same garden.

[bridgetmkennitt]

I've killed mint too, so you're not alone. I want mint, but alas, mint does not want me.

[liana]

Alliums. Doesn't matter if they're ornamental or edible. I follow all the instructions and advice, and they just fail.

[bridgetmkennitt]

D'aww :(

I still believe in you and your ability to grow alliums! You can defeat your nemesis one day.

[mmegaera]

I am ashamed to admit that mine is daffodils. They'll bloom for one season and then *poof* they're gone.

The real irony here is that I live in a region (near Seattle) where they're grown commercially, and where they've randomly naturalized themselves along the freeways.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Some daffodils just want to be freeee. But hey, silver lining, at least they bloomed for a season instead of not at all.

[onyxlynx]

Delphiniums, perennial alyssum (the annual plants were just fine), petunias after the first time. The hollyhocks/larkspur actually came up, but the following year they were mowed (don't ask). Peonies have been installed and they may survive.

But delphiniums never grew.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Maybe the delphinium seeds were duds? Totally not your fault!

[nanila]

Basil. Always, always, basil. ARGH

[loligo]

The first year I grew a garden, my basil turned into amazing bushes nearly waist-high. And I thought, "Whoo, here's a plant I can rely on!"

Yeah, no. Ever since, basil has just sulked along and given me some weedy shoots. I am baffled.

[willidan]

Roses. I have tried and tried to grow roses. Fertilize them, plant them in different areas, pamper them, ignore them. Nothing. I've nearly killed the old rose bush that have been growing in my hard from before I moved in.

[bridgetmkennitt]

D'aww! :(

Maybe it was the type of roses that were the problem?

[sleepyfairy]

Gotta be corn. You'd think that with how common corn is in Ontario and how well it supposedly grows, corn would flourish here but I plant some year after year and get maybe one or two dinky little cobs. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong.

My mom, on the other hand, somehow managed to kill bamboo.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Nomnom corn. Maybe it has to do with the soil at your place? Totally not your fault!

Heh. Sometimes bamboo gets tricky.

[zesty_pinto]

I think I've mentioned this before, but mint. Good god, mint. Everyone says the stuff is indestructible and if that's true then I must be the shikigami of mint because it never seems to thrive longer than a month under my watch.

[bridgetmkennitt]

You're not the only one who has killed mint in this post!

[touchturnfly]

Hi, I'm very new here and glad to have found this community!

My current adversary: bitter gourd. I made various attempts last year and none of the seeds would germinate. This year I tried out my last seeds in the package. Didn't work either. I ragequit and threw the seeds in a bucket outside.

After watching a very helpful youtube video I realized I had been doing things all wrong. I recovered seeds from bucket. But still, nothing. Either the seeds are too old... or they didn't survive the nights outside. I'm afraid I'll have to buy new seeds. D:

[bridgetmkennitt]

Hello and welcome!

*crosses fingers* Good luck with the bitter gourd! It was probably the seeds, so once you get new seeds, they'll sprout and grow.