I FEEL ROUND 3 OF GARDEN NO-NO’S coming on. When Mary Lynn asked yesterday in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together this holiday weekend. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no). Is watering with a coffee pot (or gardening in your long-johns) a no-no? Not for me, apparently.
Some greatest (worst?) hits we shared from Garden No-No’s Part 1 and No-No’s Part 2:
Dyed green bamboo stakes.
Dyed rust-colored mulch (do you sense a theme here?). Any dyed mulch, in fact, is a no-no to my eye.
Volcano mulch (that is, piled up deep against trunks of trees and shrubs).
Cartoon-like or out of scale garden décor items, especially in plastic, to include gnomes (though there was some sentimental dispute about gnomes), wishing wells and lions.
White plastic anything.
Gravel or lava rock as a decorative mulch outside of dry zones or containers.
Chemicals and chemical-laden products.
Too much space between plants. Too much lawn.
Bad staking, particularly staking with other than natural bamboo and twine.
Inserting plastic nursery tags into the garden as markers.
Sprinkler systems running in the rain or when otherwise not needed.
Excess noisy power tools.
And like I said, landscape fabric. Again, dissent expressed here; some people are proponents of the stuff.
So? You?
Welcome, Chris. The decision points are these: cost and upkeep. Edging by hand costs nothing (no bricks!) but the must be re-cut a couple of times a year, and the grass patched here and there and so on (and the eventual reality that the beds keep getting wider and wider eventually halted by a proper reseeding of grass in a more substantial manner. I like that I can mow along the wedges (no weed whip required) and unless you set a hard edge like brick into the ground flat or slightly lower, forget that…you need to go around w/the whip. For me the main thing was the expense, and also the fact that the brick edging on my VERY uneven hillside terrain would be just one more hectic-looking element. I didn’t want to emphasize the chaos. The only flat area I have is by the vegetables and the one bed out back by an apple tree that you may have seen in the edging story. Otherwise, VERY steep land. Not great with hardscape elements!
Elise, Miss Crankypants, you made me laugh out loud. The Willy Wonka treatment! Perfect. :)
I agree with you about the boots, too. An acquaintance’s patent red pump (full of more dribbling dirt than plant) is particularly disturbing. It’s next to the rotting plant boots, so the full effect is a Sex and the City meets True Grit kind of a thing. With hens-and-chicks.
I have new neighbors who rival my bungee cords with a border of evenly spaced plastic pots atop red dyed mulch. Can’t figure that one, given the ample beds of soil hiding under the mulch. Last year, they filled each container with nursery plants in early March. I’m hoping they learned but didn’t give up entirely.
So you are telling me to lay out for weathering all the packages of green bamboo stakes I got at Big Lots last year? OK! But I need plenty and the weathering may take some time. Don’t be so harsh about “green.”
Welcome, Linda. I don’t weather the green-dyed ones, I just buy the un-dyed ones (natural color, sort of beige) to start. Sorry to confuse. Thanks for your visit, and stop in again soon.
I’ve got a huge garden no-no….government garden police. I wish I was joking, but there is a new bill HR 875 proposed which will created a new Food Safety Administration to “protect the public health” This bill, if passed would give FSA inspectors the right to enter your plot, however small, and jail you, take away your land, or fine you for not being up to standard with big food industries. You can’t sell or even give your food away. It especially would effect organic gardeners. It’s very urgent that all gardeners familiarize themselves with this bill for the victory of this country over big government. I always thought the garden was the one place I could escape the world…but alas they have found me. Google “hr 875″ to read more and PLEASE tell your state representatives!
Welcome, Amanda, with news of this very scary-sounding legislation. I will read up, thanks. Do visit again soon.
Another latecomer who just found this site — it’s very enjoyable and informative. Most of my pet peeves aren’t original, but here goes:
* Supposedly naturalistic water gardens with “rock ring” look. This is where rocks on pond or stream margins are piled much higher than the surrounding ground. It it possible to landscape around water features so they look more organic, while still preventing soil from getting into the water.
* Related to this — and I’m glad to see others have mentioned — is the volcano waterfall. Waterfalls don’t just pop up out of the ground. Yes, it’s hard in a flat yard to make an elevated waterfall look natural but it can be done. If your yard isn’t big enough to create a gradual berm to site your waterfall, modify your water garden design.
* Scalloped cement edging materials. Any cement garden objects (benches, urns, etc.) painted white.
* Ornamental trees that aren’t limbed up to show off the bark, and/or allowed to sucker from the base (e.g. crape myrtles, Japanese maples, contorted filberts).
* Foundation plantings where people let the random tree or weeds grow up in them and don’t cut down or pull. Trees aren’t meant to grow right up next to your house.
* Large sections of dead or diseased branches that aren’t pruned out. It makes me sad to see old rhodos treated this way.
* Changing out your seasonal flowers/annuals just because some expert says it’s time. We have long mild falls here and, if cared for, lots of summer annuals continue to look good for another month or more after chrysanthemums have finished their 2-3 week blast and pansies are still puny. [Sorry, probably stepping on some toes here; am not a big fan of mums as their short bloom time doesn't make it worth it to me to take up valuable space growing them.]
Welcome, bfish. A very well-thought-out list, thank you. The water garden thing is so tricky, isn’t it? I know as mine age I have had to “punt” to get the edging in some spots not to let any of the rubber show and so on…always some tinkering needed to keep it from seeming phony. Now don’t worry about being “late” to the party…not at all; the season is just beginning. Plenty more to come. See you soon again.
I didn’t put it there and I’m working on removing it, but we have the dreaded lava rock and dear GOD the plastic weed cover….everywhere, I hate that stuff.
I’m afraid to show you my garden stakes.
I don’t know if anyone mentioned them, but those awful garden reflective globes. They look like giant Christmas balls on a golf tee, I don’t get it. Leave the decorations to the flowers.
I am here to defend some of the garden “No-No’s”. Dyed green bambo stakes, ..green just for one season. They quickly fade to a tree trunk taupe color. Garden Gnomes. Even in the Rarefied air of the “Trade Secrets 2009″ plant and garden antiques sale, a garden gnome was there for possible purchase. Mabye vintage 1950′s or 1960′s but still a garden gnome! White plastic anything. I have the most beautiful PAIR of white plastic urns. Made in Italy (expensive for plastic) $175. each. Look like painted cast iron, or honed marble up close. AND easy to move into the garage for winter storage. Chemicals. I am not a PURIST !!! I love PREEN!!!!. Beats the hell out of having to weed all the time. Too much space between plants..Too many people plant things to close together. Think about how big, today’s small plant will be in FIVE years. Too much lawn…Easier to Mow the lawn, than pull weeds. Love My Toro Personal Pacer mower. Self propells as fast as a person can walk!
Defending “Garden Reflective Balls” At some of the most Beautiful places in North West Ct., and The Berkshires you see reflective garden balls. They are held in place by hand forged iron towers, that could be quite tall (10 feet or more). Garden decoration sellers, like Old Farm Nursery, in Lakeville, Ct, Battle Hill Forge, in Falls Village, Ct, Michael Trapp in West Cornwall, and Campo de’ Fiore in Sheffield , Ma. all have a great selection to pick from. I have a beautiful amethyst globe that matches my sand cherrys for summer, and stainless steel that looks great with the winter snow.
I have read through ALL of the comments in this “topic” area, and I have a few more to defend. I think russett red dyed mulch would be FINE, “IF” you live in a beige, or cream colored house with russet red shutters or door. That way you would be bring the accent color from the house , down to the ground, and tying the ground to the facade. The russet red of the mulch would pop the green of the plant life, that it lays under. If a person is using the red mulch, plant only fall colored flowers. You know… the yellows, oranges, reds, and purples, to go with the mulch. TOO many people DON’T think that gardening is making a visual picture, BUT it is.
As for Bunny Williams, and the Bunny Crossing sign, AND Margaret’s Roach Motel sign, (if Margaret has one) Both of those ladies have taste, and a good amount of land. It is perfectly fine to have whimsical elements as long as they are placed properly. A lot of “rich” people have fun things like that , that are TOPICS of conversation. Even the bent over lady, showing her panties would be fine, if it is sited right, possibly in a vegetable garden, Especially if you live in a Great Georgian Mansion, or some castle kind of place. The main thing with all garden decoration is that less is sometimes MORE. You don’t want to see them ALL at once, or look like you are living in a garden center -gift store, OR are an over zealous crafter, make them yourself, and storing them in you garden. Let’s face it. Most of the garden decorations people have griped about are kind of low end, price wise, BUT a lot of expensive stuff can loose its appeal if there is too much of it also. BUT the funny thing about the do-do list of things, is that some person in the society world, or decorative business is going to have some of the griped about things, AND it will be written about and called BRILLIANT, and then it will be ADDED to a MUST HAVE list!
I’m a newby to the site but I’ve had LOL moments while reading all this. My no-no’s, a/k/a, OMG, no they didn’t?…pink flamingo’s, a row of pots along the front walkway…with NOTHING in them??? Can u say, “Lowe’s?” Sprayed rusty mulch is THE #1 hated atrocity and when a “friend” actually suggested I use that instead of pinestraw because you don’t have to keep adding each season, you can just spruce it up by painting??? I just looked at him as if to say, “What the freak?” Then, the neighbor who bought landscape bricks, began a beautiful garden around the mailbox, then decided to trash the idea??? and took some blocks away and left others tossed and turned as if Auntie Em’s Kansas farmhouse had just been sucked up in the tornado…people who haven’t learned that watering the lawn in the HOT southern mid-day sun at NOON is really not an effective use of water…Can u say e-v-ap-o-r-a-t-i-o-n???
I admit I have one strategically placed gazing ball which I think compliments the landscape, but a PLASTIC gnome-like aunt of a friend asked “what is it?” When I explained, she became very silent and had this glazed over look that could only have said “white girls…mmm,” or “idiot.” THIS coming from the Great One who leaves her freaking Christmas “icecicles” nailed to the facia boards around the house ALL YEAR LONG! Yeah, now ain’t that classy????
Margaret,….. After seeing your story book house and garden, on 5-31-09, I think you NEED a bit of “whimsey” from the No-No- list. I think you should have the bent over lady, or ladies, showing her, or their panties, down in the vegetable-flower patch, by your utility gate. I have ALWAYS felt that “Coordination is Everything” , so you need the ladies panties painted in the dark moss green of the body of your house, with deep red-orange polka dots to match the trim. You know “Garden Maven” you have the power to elevate a garden no-no to the MUST HAVE list!!!
Margaret, I LOVE your no-no’s list! My personal dislike is the dyed red mulch. What were they thinking? You may be interested that as of April 22, 2009 (Earth Day), it is illegal to use pesticides, including 2, 4D in Ontario, with some exceptions (stupid golf courses are 1). I did my Happy Dance for that one. The noxious “Weed Man” company and all others must use corn gluten, and other enviro-friendly controls.
Welcome, Leslye. I overheard the cashier at my local garden center where they have *lots* of chemicals telling a customer looking for Preen to forget it, they’re not stocking it any longer. “Buy corn gluten,” she advised the lady. I did my happy dance, quietly, at that moment. See you soon again I hope.
The corn gluten sounds like an alternative to the Preen. Will have to look for it in the garden shop, and try it on a spot in the garden, to see how well it works. Have you ever Googled preen/hazards, or weedbgone/hazards, or roundup/hazards? There are different comments on the subject.
Fred and Lisa and Leslye and, of course, Margaret: I love you all. I forgot about the lady bending over showing the panties. I now live in California and they don’t believe we have any water, even though the ocean seems to run along its shores. From my days in the midwest, I had gardens. Now just a small little patch in front which I am trying to have look like it belonged to a sweet cottage. And Fred, I have spaced the plants but that lamb’s ear needs to be moved and aghast, I will never get rid of the bamboo sprout someone planted.
Welcome, Judy. Sounds like even that small patch will keep you occupied, with the bamboo to contend with. Thanks for your visit, and do come again soon.
I agree with Kathleen (April 2 post) about improperly pruned crepe myrtles…I call it “crepe murder”. Interestingly, a friend of mine moved to Weatherford, TX. and her new landscaper has told her “no pruning at all of crepe myrtles”. She is interested to see how they will look this year.
Hi Margaret,
I have been very amused and agree with most of your followers about garden no no’s. But non of these are serious no no’s. It’s time to get serious about some real no no’s, things beyond a persons control.
‘Ground Hog Wars’
May I introduce you to Ground Hog Bob. He is a very big no no to anyones garden. He and I have been waring for two years. Have you seen the holes they dig! Last year he only had one hiding hole in my yard. I thought I was smarter then him, I would scare him away every time I saw him. I would make my yard a very unpleasant place to live. AH! He showed me I now have 5 holes through out my garden.
I have been relentless in my pursuit. Using snap guns, cow bells, running, yelling, using a hose on full blast (my favorite since it is the only thing that really seems to bother Bob) and yes all of this while living off of the 18th hole of a golf course, golfers looking on with no idea what my mad pursuit was all about.
Two days ago I was feeling very sinister after having him just lay in the grass and look at me like I was a bothersome fly. I used the tried and true hose on full blast and chased him to one of his holes under some very large rocks. Usually squirting water in his hole convinces him to run out and I would continue to chase him off my property, He wasn’t coming out …. he had proven himself more cleaver. Bob had created a dip in his hole forcing the water back out! Drat! I was indignant at this point. I went to my rock pile looking for the biggest most irregular shaped rocks I could find and started putting them in the hole and pushed them down into the mud I had just created from squirting water into the hole. He had no exit I had already check for one. If he was going to get out he would have to dig himself out through the mud and large rocks. I then went and refilled all of his other holes. that will show him! Won’t he be surprised when he run tomorrow for one of his hiding hole only to discover they where not there. Yes, I did feel an evil laugh working it’s way out of me.
OK by the next morning I was feeling a little guilty for entombing Bob. What if he didn’t get himself dug out. I went to look. All of the rock where still in place. I was starting to really feel guilty …… TILL …. Here came Bob with a bird screaming and pecking at his head. He was moseying down the side yard as if the bird was a bothersome mosquito. He then looked at me, no more then 20 feet away as if to say ” You too ” I started to yell at him so he oblige me and ran for his closest hole. I got my reward!!!! He ran for the hole with all the rock filled into the it. He stopped dead confused and looked at me. I laughed HA what are you going to do now! He ran for my lower garden, I grabbed my hose, we were off. Drat, he dug another hole!! I started the water into the hole but either he wasn’t in this new hole or he had by passed it for the field of tall grass beyond. I gave up.
Yes, there is more. That night I saw Bob laying in my lower yard. I was very tired so I opted for just using my cow bell. Bob must have been very tired …. or …. DEAD? He wasn’t moving, I was only 10 feet away now. No he wasn’t dead. DRAT! He lifted his head as if to say; ” I’m really too tired for this ” But I was insistent so he ran back to the new hole in the lower garden he had dug the day before. I went and checked all the holes I had filled in the day before. He had re-dug all but one of them. Now I know why he was so tired. I went in the house in defeat. Bob apparently is even more determined then me, maybe even smarter.
Welcome, Susan. Bob sounds like someone I have met. You may not have read my own “Bob” type story, on trying to fool Mother Nature and a woodchuck. You can find it here. Sound familiar/ Oy. Tell Bob I said go AWAY.
No I hadn’t see those stories about yours and others ‘groundhogs/woodchucks. I’ve read them. I’m not feeling hopeful of getting rid of Bob. By the way yesterday I notice Bob invited Mary into my yard.
Thanks for the great list! My no-no is short and sweet: No rubber/plastic showing at the edges of a water feature. So tacky.
Welcome, Lynn. Oh, yes, that’s a good one. Keeping the edges hidden gets harder as things heave and thaw, and stones shift, so we are always having to do some repairs each spring to prevent just that here. See you soon again, I hope.
My no-no list…NO to thinking gardening, in the North East is from April to October. Even if you don’t have flowers blooming you should have winter interest (for the eye to look at in the non growing time), in the form of evergreen mounds, columns, nests, pyramids, cones, etc. ALSO you should consider ornamental grasses, and bushes that form berries, have interesting bark, or have twisted growth habbits……NO to believing you can have a garden that looks like something that is in a book or magazine, for a long period of time. When you see a picture in a magazine or book, you are looking at a window of time, when the garden is looking a certain way. One or two weeks later, the garden, in that photo will have taken on a completely different look…NO to planting one plant here and one plant there.
Good planting is all about MASS, versus specimen. (Mass means many of the same plant , put together to form a large clump. 3, 5, 7 etc of the same plant). Specimen (one plant) is fine if the plant is LARGE in size, or has an odd color that will stick out from the crowd…NO to just thinking about flowers, when it comes to a perennial garden. AND “NO’ to an ALL green foliage garden!!! The flowers in a perennial garden are in bloom for ONLY about two weeks MAX.
The garden should be a LEAF taperstry FIRST, in colors of foliage that are green, blue green, chartreuse, burgundy, and silver-gray.. The foliage should be in a combination of leaf shapes like..Sword or grass shaped, fern like, heart shaped, round, almond, maple leaf shaped, oak leaf shaped, the shape of the oriental and asiatic lily, and small and LARGE shaped leaves, etc. The eye should look at a CLUMP (3,5,7 plants) of one leaf shape, then on to another grouping of leaf shapes, and then on to another, etc. …NO to trying to stair step plants from ground hugging to tall. Plants need light to survive and bloom.
A one foot tall plant would work fine in front of a three foot tall plant, and the three foot tall plant will do fine in front of something that grows six to eight feet tall. A one foot tall plant can NOT be planted in front of a two foot tall plant, that is front of a three foot tall plant, which is in front of a four foot tall plant, ETC. because the ones in the back will NEVER get enought light to grow properly! …
NO to NOT amending the dirt, when starting a garden, or redoing a spot. Spagnum peat moss does wonders to add organic material to sandy-gravel dirt, and breaks up CLAY dirt. I have mixed in two BALES of it, to about every 12′ X 12′ square of ground…NO to planting spring bulbs, like daffodils close together. Plant them about a foot apart. In a few years they will have formed LARGE clumps that would not be welcome, if you planted them close together….
NO to not spacing plants far enough, so you don’t have to divide for YEARS. Day lilys should be planted 30″ to 36″ apart if you don’t want to move them for 15 years of more. To close like 18″ , and you will be doing extra work in 3 to 5 years…NO to believing gardening EXPERTS. I have raspberry plants that I got from my Grandmother. ALL of the literature that I read, said 3′ between plants , and 7′ between rows. It should be 3′ between plants and 10′ between rows. The experts don’t have MY BIG plants. ..
NO to just planting a tree, or bush on the lawn. Place the plant. Go into your house, and look out the window at it. Go down to the road and look at it. Look at it from MANY differernt spots. Is it really where you want it to be??? Don’t be afraid to move it back and forth, until it looks GREAT from ALL viewing points….
NO to not picking plants that go with the color of your house. You are making a visual PICTURE, and the flowers, bushes and trees are all setting off your place….NO to planting trees to close together, or TOO close to the house. A three foot tree, could be twenty feet tall in ten years. Trees with shorter growth habbits should be planted closer to the house, and trees that grow taller should be planted FURTHER AWAY from the house. Big trees to close to a house will dwarf it, and the roots could effect the foundation and underground pipes. …
NO to thinking that you can make a sun loving plant grow in the shade, or vice versa, and NO to thinking that you can make a plant that grows 20′ tall, stay THREE foot tall, because you want it to be that size. If you say to your self, I will keep it pruned, FORGET IT!!!!!!!!! BUY the right plant for the space!…AND “NO” to having every plant at the garden center (though some of us have most). After a while it is all about being able to maintain the garden, which is a chore in itself.
I would have to say people that plant plastic flowers in their yard…is that what would be considered the low to no maintenance garden?….lol
Woe, there’s quite a lot of no’s that are still reeling in my head. I’m a garden designer/consultant and trying to incorporate my style into someone else’s garden is at times challenging. Many times something they love (plant, shrub, color) is a major no-no in my book, but I have to respect their opinion and try to gently guide them (to my side of course). I’m 100% pro environmentally friendly practices. I see no reason not too. I’ve been gardening for 10 years and have never used chemicals on my lawn or plant material. I have “mixed greens” for grass.
Love reading most comments, but I have to say, FRED, maybe you should get your own blog. You have a lot to say here. I think using Preen and other chemicals and thinking they’re okay is very selfish. It’s not just your garden it’s affecting but the water systems, the birds, worms, etc., etc…, etc… Corn gluten is great, but if you’re looking for a “perfect” lawn, forget it, it’s not going to happen. How about bending down and picking weeds, or mulching 2 inches deep? Use a vinegar spray on hardscapes to kill weeds (not in the garden beds though).
Red mulch is not only ugly, it’s laden with chemicals. Those chemicals leach into the soil. I use leaf compost and it retains its color pretty well throughout the summer and I just turn it into the soil and start over again in the spring.
Okay, that’s my long 2 cents worth.
SUZANNE….THANK YOU, thank you, THANK YOU!!!! For commenting on my comments. I have made many, over the past months, and have got only a few responses back. I don’t care if you are FOR or AGAINST my opinions. As long as they have provoked some thought. Being that you commented, SAYS that my comments were not MILK TOAST, or BEIGE wall paper. Something that is looked at and forgotten. As for having my own BLOG, I am having fun on Margaret’s, where I feel I give some texture, knowledge, and sometimes some FUNNY comments. When you made the comment about “bending down and picking weeds”. I have done that for YEARS. I am 53 years old, this is the 19th year of gardening here at Whimsey Hill House. Before that I gardened for 7 years at another place I owned. Before that I helped my mother with her garden. I would say, I have 40 PLUS years of gardening experience under my belt. So I have “been there and done that” when it comes to gardening. Also my garden takes up about four thousand PLUS square feet of space. That would be like a garden 10 feet deep and 400 PLUS feet long. I am glad that you have 10 years of gardening experience, SO i look forward to YOU, along with Me, Margaret, and ANYONE else, who has an opinions, on any topic that Margaret posts, to making more comments. I feel a blog is like a newspaper. Everyone has their favorite areas of interest and topic writers. Maybe a person that would like reading your thoughts, would not be interested in mine. We all have different opinions, and come from different experiences. A blog is ALSO like journalism. It is ment to educate, stimulate, hopefull provoke thought and entertain. If it were just all SUGAR and LIGHT, it would be tiring after a while. SO, Suzanne, join me and let’s voice our DIFFERENT opinions together. Let’s give the readership, along with Margaret something to look forward to… on…. A Way to Garden. I’ll be looking for you soon.
Just tagged you in the “seven things” meme because I loved this no-no’s post so much, Margaret! No worries if you don’t wish to participate.
http://www.northcoastgardening.com/2009/09/seven-favorite-articles/
No to harsh judgments, and yes to tolerance. My personal no-no is primroses, don’t ask me why. I admire their bright colors every spring, but I just don’t care for their squattiness in my gardens. My latest no-no is fences – we no longer keep livestock and I am gradually tearing down our fencing and working toward a more subtle transition from yard to wild. In response to others’ pet peeves: I find the short bamboo stakes useful for marking my plants over the winter, would buy them unpainted if available. I’m not a fan of gravel, lava, or bark mulch in general, but appreciate its usefulness for non-gardeners (whose beds would otherwise be full of weeds). I use a composted top dressing which can eventually be incorporated into the soil. Also not a fan of ‘whimsical’ yard art, although I did inherit a gnome from my mother in law and after toning him down with a coat of dark stain and tucking him deep under a cypress, he’s OK. At least it’s not a donkey with a cart. I do like stone or metal yard art, and agree with others that restraint is good. I bring them all in over winter for cleaning, and often weed some out in the process. Flamingos…none in my gardens but saw a very cool grouping in tall grass along a mountain highway which caught me unaware and made me smile. I’ve been organic for 30 years and although chemicals would likely help me tame my buttercups, I’ve learned to just work with them (lots of non-gardeners comment on my pretty yellow flowers). I plead guilty to spacing too close. I like the instant gratification, and in a few years, I just dig and divide, often getting a whole new grouping to plant too closely elsewhere. My husband can’t understand why I am constantly planting and replanting…as I don’t understand why he chases a little white ball around a golf course. Years ago we agreed that what he spends on golf I can spend at the nursery (and vice versa).
Deb…LOVE your flamingo comments. Not far from me, people are SOLARIZING a part of their lawn with a BRIGHT BLUE pool tarp. It has a flock of PINK PLASTIC FLAMINGOS stabbed through it, to hold it down. Their creative way of killing weeds is quite a WHIMSICAL sight!
Sounds really tacky…but cool at the same time. I like it.
THANKS DEB for your comment!!!!!!!!! I love when people comment back. Comments make it more personal, and makes me feel we are all FRIENDS in a way.
Fred — and, hey, how often do I get to discuss flamingos with someone in New York…??
As we start looking forward to spring, may I introduce a No-No? Perfectly nice flowering bushes sheared into blobs. I dislike any bush sheared into a blob — either let it look like a bush, or do a neat geometric, even a giant bunny rabbit. But judging from the proliferation of green amoebas in my neighborhood, I’m willing to concede that amoeba bushes may be a matter of personal taste. (I’m not backing down on Japanese maples sheared into mushrooms, though.)
But is there anything sadder than an amoeba sprinkled with a sparse handful of pink or yellow polka dots? A bush that should have been a fountain of forsynthia or a pillow of azalea instead gives a sad display. And it isn’t just the spring-flowering bushes, either. One house has a 3 foot front hedge of rose-of-sharon, that is kept neatly trimed, but in the process most of the flower buds get cut off. However, the rose-of sharon has a sufficiently open growth habit that it manages to open some flowers right in the center of the bush.
Welcome, Waneta. Agreed. I like geometry in the right shrubs (normally evergreens like little-leaf hollies or boxwood or yew) and only in the right spot. The idea of shearing a Japanese maple into a — what? — is more than I can stand to think about, either. See you soon again, I hope.
Susan, re groundhog Bob: AMMONIA! In July-Aug, soak rags in pure ammonia and toss one in every hole. Make sure you get them all. Worked for me.
I dislike anything in the garden that is painted in unnnatural colours. All those little coloured statues and wind blowing things all over the place make it look like a trailer park. (No offence to tasteful gardeners in trailer parks).
I like landscape fabric for certain areas, not in the garden. I have an overgrown weed filled ditch that I am thinking about covering with landscape fabric topped with old straw/hay/cut grass.
I dislike manicured lawns. Why have grass at all. The horrible stuff has no practical value at all. Why not put in paths and trees and gardens. If you do it right with lots of mulch they are really less work than a perfect lawn. Lawns need a lot of water and chemicals to look nice, not to mention time spent in cutting and edging.
@Sheryl — I used the ammonia trick and it worked for me, too!
In defense of lawns—they do have their place. My lawns are minimal now — given over to more beds and borders. But when my children were growing up, the lawn was the place to be—soccer games, batting practice, a nice safe surface for just plain running and playing. Lawns can be done responsibly with native grasses and without chemicals, unless you are in an arid climate. But it really just depends on how you use your land. Let’s all try not to judge.
I just came across this website, I had to laugh at many of these posts, especially about the rodents. I have thrown my flip flops from my back door at the squirrels trying to get to my bird feeders.
Some of my pet peeves. People who devalue property because they haven’t a clue about landscaping.
A new owner next door removed the brick border (professionally installed by the previous owner) around her planting beds – they were flush with ground level – and she just sets the bricks on the ground as a border, and moves them around occassionally. ????? I don’t understand it, but it looks messy and awful. Remaining bricks sit atop a plastic storage cabinet in full view of their yard.
I don’t mind mulch, but mine is confined within borders, and it’s definitely not a focal point. My neighbor uses mulch, but in most areas doesn’t use borders, and mulch is all over the place. Eyesore.
Neighbors yard is a pink nightmare. Pink flowers…all containers and hanging baskets are pink, pink, pink. Its overkill, but add to that, their daughter is dressed in pink barrettes, pink shoes, pink socks, pink pants, pink shirt and pink handbag. Daughters bedroom walls are striped in pink, and I’ve seen them shake a bedroom rug outside, and guess what, it’s pink. It’s a pink nightmare. Queen of faux pas and cliches.
Or, how about this. How about copycat neighbors? We plant a purple shrub next to our garage, they do the same. We install complimentary underplantings, they do the same and with the same selections, we install a lannonstone walkway, they do the same (all of this within a week of our doing it). It goes on and on, and it’s beyond flattery, it’s WEIRD (we stopped counting when we reached 100). I pride myself on having my yard different than everyone elses, and my own ideas, so when we are consistently copied by someone who lives directly next door, it’s extremely irritating, but I change things out annually because it makes it harder for them to keep up. I knew that last year they’d have hydrangeas, this year they’ll have elephant ears and rhododendrons, it’s like clockwork. What I do one year, they do the next if not within a weeks time, it happens eventually.
After our lannonstone walkway, they wanted to tear out their entire walkway in the front of their house, which looks brand new by the way, and install a lannonstone walkway. Their entire house is lannonstone, that would be overkill!!! They ended up emulating the walkway off their patio in the back yard, similar to ours. I get conical hanging baskets, they get conical hanging baskets. So, I guess the point I’m gettng at is, there’s nothing wrong with admiring someone’s home or landscaping, and building on ideas, but don’t copy EVERYTHING everyone else has or does, otherwise you may as well live in a cookie cutter neighborhood where all the homes are the same. The same neighbor who tore out a beautiful lilac shrub at 10:00 pm, which offered both properties privacy, to make room for more seating for a party the next day. A couple months later, another shrub, immature small speciment that will not reach the fence height for many years to come, was put in its place. What are you thinking???? Hire a landscape professional if you don’t know what you are doing!!!
Urns next to the city walkway. Neighbors did this too, and it looks terrible, “homemade” as someone in the neighborhood called it. If you are going to place urns as a focal point, know how to place them or don’t place them at all.
Multiple shepards hooks in the front yard (at least three of them) with lanterns and what-not hanging on them. Very tacky.
Plastic waterfall right next to where you sit. Isn’t a fountain supposed to be a view from a patio, a focal point, not on top of it?
Multiple pieces of plastic storage in the yard, unhidden. Ugly.
Mulching, with wood chips, the back of a yard that is less than 1/8 acre, as a playground, with a large wooden swingset and all. Every vistor here comments on the ill appearance. There is a public playground, literally, around the corner.
And for me, I know that many people differ from this, but I just don’t think that ornamental grasses belong in the residential landscape. Ever. I think they look great in front of commercial businesses, or on a city way, but not in residential landscapes. No offense to those who have it, just my personal taste.
I also dislike fountains in a front yard UNLESS you don’t have a back yard, or if perhaps you are in the country. In the city, on small lots, it’s tacky. Especially when it’s plastic and cheap looking, it does nothing for the value of your home.
Welcome, Kim. Apparently you have given this some thought. :) I promise not to give your pink-theme neighbor my web address, tee hee. My yard is different from everyone else’s, too, so I know what you mean. Thanks for visiting, and sharing, and do come again soon.
Something for your next list of no-no’s: plastic flowers.
Not kidding. My mother plants plastic flowers in her yard, in flower pots on the front porch, all over the place.
I try not to look too closely, it pains me so.
Welcome, Jennifer. Good one for the list, yes. I am always surprised when I see them, and I do. Painful, as you say. I hope to see you again (minus any plastic plants) soon. :)
Little round mulched circles. Everywhere!! A little round circle around a tree, with some ground cover. A little round circle around a bush. And another around another bush. And then another. A little round circle around the mailbox, filled with petunias below. I suspect that if you hit Google Earth in the winter, the yard would seem to be covered with polka dots. Or maybe chicken pox….
Welcome, Michigan Linda. Love the image of the Google Earth’s-eye view. Hilarious. I hate mulch circles, too. Glad to “meet” you and do come again soon.
For KIM… I LOVE your garden LAMENTS!! I know a lady with a WHOLE pink house, and she is married with a son. As for the copy cat neighbor, YOU, to them, are the STYLE ICON (Martha) of your block. So be proud, LAUGH from within, and feel taste full. REMEMBER …Copy is the sincerest form of flattery.
Who’s taste reigns? A garden is an invitation to explore and create and to make a little piece of earth your very own. The value of a garden lies, not in how much others approve of it, but in the pleasure it brings the gardener. What if the tacky ornaments carry symbolic meaning? Should the gardener hide an emotionally significant memento from childhood or of a loved one simply because the neighbours don’t like it? Dare to express youselves freely and without judgement!
Welcome, Olga. Let freedom ring! We hear you, and thanks for the point of view — and for saying hello. Hope to see you again soon.
A big NO to judging other people’s gardens.
Thanks, Margaret, for your post on Begonia ‘Bonfire’ and mention of ‘Bellfire’. I picked up ‘Bonfire’ this year and if I can overwinter it as successfully as you, I will be on the hunt for ‘Bellfire’ in the Spring.
A final note to Kim, the lady that clearly hates all her neighbours…. have you considered moving?
Welcome, Danielle. Each to his own in the garden, yes. My ‘Bellfire’ overwintered, too, and is up and flowering…so far so good. I still prefer ‘Bonfire,’ and my prediction is that we may see more tweaking at the breeder from these interesting begonias in seasons to come… See you soon again, I hope.