Chasmanthium latifolia
Daylilies (to remove spent flowers and senescing foliage)
Hibiscus 'Kopper King' (pest magnet)
Most Salvia guarantica cultivars (after a few years of playing nice, they suddenly start to spread with abandon)

my wife ...

as for plants .... i dont recall they all died 10 years ago.. when i started to provide abject neglect .. or left them at the old house when i moved here..

ken

Roses.

After trying "disease resistant" floribundas and hybrid tea roses for a couple of years, I gave up. Constant spraying and using harsh chemicals are not for me. I did leave Double Knockout (definitely a winner) and a couple of floribundas that were not as pathetic as others.

Fancy Daylilies.

Without constant deadheading they look ugly.

Lilies and Hostas require lots of deer protection, but I am keeping them anyway.

I have problems with plants that spread too vigorously; too much garden, too little gardener!
Bearded iris--needs lifting and separating every other year, then there are too many rhizomes to re-plant
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)--self seeds and runs with abandon
Sedum acre--spreads like crazy for me until the bed is overrun; hard to remove every little bit
Centaurea montana (perennial cornflower)--if you don't remove spent blooms/seedheads, for me they self seed prolifically
Lychnis coronaria--prolific reseeding
Lamb ears--more of the above
Iberis sempervirens--ditto

Hostas, too many issues with slugs and I only use pet safe kinds that don't work great.

bumblebeez,

Sluggo (and Sluggo Plus) is pet and soil safe and works like magic. If you do not have deer in your area, you are lucky. Slugs are a minor problem in my garden with many shady spots. Hostas should be very easy for you.

Bumblebeez, Try using beer in a shallow dish. The Slugs will have a party and die the next morning of a deadly overhang. Just make sure that the dish is shallow enough for the snail to gain access.

My high maintenance plants are catmint that aren't sterile (replaced them with ones that were), Mint (shudder)and Asters as they need to be kept in check but those are worth it. Irises are high maintenance for me as well but I only have two small patches within a flower bed so I don't have to divide tons every year. Plants that need deadheading are a plus for me as it gives me something to do in the garden so no complaints there as a fiddler :)

I agree with alot of what has been written here already. I have huge beds of daylilies, and more planted in mixed beds. After a few years, many of the clumps are so huge they are hard to dig up and divide. While the large clumps are gorgeous in bloom, they do need spent scapes removed and sometimes the foliage looks ratty by the end of the season. My DH and I just dug up three clumps to give to a friend for her garden and I've never seem so many thick roots in my life!

Bearded Iris - agree with what was said above. Many of mine have only been in the ground for three years, and I left 30 inches or more between plants. They really need dug up, divided, and replanted AGAIN. And I've traded and gave so many away already - what do you do with all of the extra rhizomes???? Rebloomers, tall and dwarfs are even worse because they grow faster. But, you do get blooms twice a year.

Lousiana Irises - received these in trade and it has taken three years to get bloom. And the plants are HUGE. They take up too much space for the amount of bloom you get.

I only have Rugosa Roses and Carpet Roses - Hybrid Teas are way too much work to keep looking nice. I don't like chemicals so I like to avoid spraying. We moved into a house that had the first Knockout Rose, a single red. I tried just cutting off the dead growth in the spring, then I tried cutting it way back in the spring. No matter what I did, it just never looked good. It was beseiged by all kinds of hungry insects. Holes in the leaves all summer and black spot by fall. We removed it.

Linda

Echinacea "Mac 'n Cheese" is so high maintenance that I couldn't get it to grow no matter what I tried. LOL.

Well, beer in dish all the time IS high maintenance to me and the dogs would probably drink it if i weren't super careful and I would have to dispose of gross slugs.
I use a product with iron phosphate now and that's what sluggo contains.
I have half a dozen hostas now but won't buy more.

I would have to add to the comments about Iris. I heard a lot of people say they didn't grow iris because of one thing or another but I really liked them so had to try them. In the end, it was the same for me. I don't have the room or the ideal conditions for them. Not enough sun, clay soil, although in a raised bed, mixed in with perennials that have to get watered more often. Then I had to divide them and replant last year and I didn't like that job at all. This year, only one variety bloomed, Beverly Sills and the rest are just settling in. So you are dividing and replanting one year, tolerating no blooms and skimpy growth the next and I suppose they will need dividing again next year or at the very least the year after. I'm replacing mine as soon as my Bluestone order arrives. I am keeping the variegated Iris for the time being.

As much as I think Peonies are a great low maintenance plant and gorgeous, I lost two last year to some kind of a wilt after just purchasing them the year before. Plus, the week the blooms opened we had 90 degree weather for a couple of days and the blooms barely lasted a week. For me that's just not worth it. If I had the room to have a ton of them and use them for vases it might be worth it I suppose. I have one left and I'm not planning on removing it but I won't invest in more.

Lupine, is one of my daughter's favorites so I'm still trying that one. I think they are very pretty when they grow well. Sometimes mine wilt and sometimes they get covered with aphids. After they bloom, I always feel I have to leave them up to collect seed so then they look a little messy until I collect the seed. I have one patch that is still working out so they have a reprieve. They are just another plant that I think would prefer more sun than I have to offer. Maybe they work out well for others and are not a lot of trouble when they are grown in full all day sun. Mine only get maybe 5-6 hrs.

And that's about it for me and some of mine might be worth growing for someone else.

Anything that runs: Salvia guaranitica, asters, obedient plant, pink achillea (RUNS), shasta daisies (yes, they do here), the straight species of Nandina (especially in good soil)

Things that need frequent dividing: daylilies, irises (not to mention their yuck foliage from July to frost)

AND the Big numero Uno: ornamental grasses. True, they need nothing but cutting back once a year until it's time to divide (every 3 to 5 years). But so help me, dividing them is the hardest, most backbreaking work known to man. As much as I love them, I am thinning out their numbers.

Hi Donna, I'm surprised that asters run. I've had two for four years that really stay as clumps and haven't even reseeded.

I also want to mention that I don't have a lot of Ornamental Grasses because they are too big for my space and I try to be careful because of running and because of reseeding, but Pennisetum 'Hamelin' has really worked out for me. I've had it in one location for 10 years and have not moved it. It did start to die out in the middle about year 4 and someone online told me that they cut out the middle with one of those electric saw things...lol....sorry I don't remember the name of it. So I tried it with a big knife which worked because there was not much left of it. Sure enough it has grown back in the middle so I have never had to wrestle with it. I definitely would 'limit' the amount of grasses that I have. I don't have many places where I can put a grass and leave it forever and never move it. [g]

I tried a 'Karley Rose' Pennisetum and I dug that out this year after only one year in the ground. It scared me how fast and how big it got in one season. lol

Asters stay in clumps for me, but the clump increases every yr.hahaha... Plus the reseeding is a nightmare. I started with a light and dark purple and have every color in the rainbow.
As far as roses, there are alot of good ones and bad ones. Everyones area will be different. I grow alot, but no floribundas or HT's.. I find most perennials run or reseed here. Its alot of work and I love it..Bring it on.........

I immediately remove plants that spread wildly because I have a little garden. My high maintenance kids are roses and brugmansias, mostly because of the pests they attract. I put up with it because I love 'em and I may eventually find ones that are less finicky in middle TN.

I tried Sluggo for the first time this year and yes, it really works!

For those of you that find irises too much work, try Soberians. Only needs dividing every 4 or 5 years, beautiful foligae all summer long and pest free.

My highest mainenance plant ever was Campanula blue clips. I had three and 50 deadheads a day didn't make a dent. (Yes, I would count. Helped pass the time.) They solved the problem on their own by refusing to come back.

As far as reseeding, I usually don't have too much issue with that, although 2 summers ago due to illness I didn't mulch and I didn't deadhead my rose campion, so I had a boatload of seedlings last year. But they were easy to yank, so no problem. By far, my biggest reseeders are echinacea and hellianthus, but both are easy to dig out and give away.

Peonies - so floppy and the blooms are ruined in 2 seconds of rain! I grumble every time I put up the grid rings, guide the foliage thru for a few days, then hover over them at bloom time (cutting bouquets is nice though :)

Lilies - pulled all of them up this Spring because of the lily leaf beetle

Spotted joe pye weed - moved a huge one this Spring because it was too tall for its location. This is hands down the hardest perennial I've ever had to divide/move - as bad as Miscanthus! They have a very woody crown.

Any perennial that is a vigorous spreader, vigorous reseeder, bothered by pests or weird fungi, flops and requires staking, etc. I've got some of all of the above! :)

The other day I went thru the gardens, and gave most of the floppers a haircut. This was much quicker and easier than staking and hopefully will minimize that problem.

I love this thread! I have to agree about the irises. Even siberians are high maintenance in my book. Their root system can get so dense and take some serious muscle to divide. Of course, I have over a 50 foot stretch of them, so that's daunting.

a2zmom, I laughed out loud at your post. When I read the title of this thread, I immediately thought "Campanula Blue Clips!" I just paid my 6.5 year old son a dollar to deadhead them. Unfortunately, at 6.5 dead flowers and buds look the same. :( LOL.

Lisa

Been there done that on almost everyones list. No more Iris (except for the variegated one). I went through a daylily phase, but since I'm out of room in ground tried them in pots. Works well for roses, not daylilies - and the more ruffled and expensive the daylily the quicker they died from crown rot over winter. I still have a few older types in ground, and after years and years and years I probably ought to divide them. Good caveat on grasses. I'm not a fan, but had my eye on Miscanthus Gold Bar. I think I'll pass now.

yes Mary, the variegated one! I am noticing the grape fragrance this week! Yummy. Mine seem to have no issues. Now I want a patch of them...[g].

Campanula clip series...deadheading? Oh no, I just bought two. You mean they don't rebloom without the deadheading? Well, maybe two little plants will not be too much trouble but we'll see.

I have a geranium that I'm not sure the name of. I thought it was Rozanne. But I bought Patricia at the same time and lost one and not sure which one I lost. At any rate, it does bloom a lot, but it flops. I'm not liking the flop right now. I moved it from part sun to more sun so it wouldn't flop but it didn't help at all. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now.

This thread is scaring me to death. :)

terrene..you could have probably heard me and hubby cursing the grow rings we were trying to put up for our garden phlox that somebody gave me at a plant swap. Now I can understand why I had problems..I can't even put children's puzzles together and my husband can usually figure out and put anything together but he had problems getting the wire stands put back on the grid part of the ring. Why don't the manufacturer attach the stakes on the grid where they would be balanced and where they should be, instead of the gardener having to figure it out? About ready to order some 12 in. rings to put around some starter plants. I figure once they get established, I can easily lift them off the plant. Maybe I'll just leave it on the garden phlox and see how it does in it.

Pippi, if you give your phlox a pruning at the start of the season, you may not need a grow ring. I never have since mine get a free deer pruning at early spring every year.

Prairiemoon, I would suggest getting into a deep zen state right before deadheading your Blue Clips. It helps, lol.

a2z, I will keep that in mind... [g] I usually don't mind deadheading so much. It's kind of mindless. Until I get too many plants in the garden that need it at the same time. Wondering what this season will be like.

Terrene, I didn't even use a support ring for the one remaining peony that I have this year. I suppose now the blooms will be on the ground 2 minutes after opening...lol I have a peony that someone gave me at a swap about 5 years ago and it has never bloomed and this year it has buds on it. I moved it into all day sun 2 years ago thinking that would do the trick and then last year, it still didn't bloom. It was ready for the chopping block if it didn't bloom this year! It looks like it will be pink and I am eagerly anticipating getting my first look at it. And it's already getting warm out, so I wonder how many days the blooms will last. [g]

I have a couple of those "some assembly required" grow rings and they too drive me nuts trying to get them aligned. I also don't like it if the rings are not level, and until the plant grows up through the rings, the disheveled appearance of askew rings is unappealing. A couple of years ago I happened upon some large fully assembled Tomato cages and I just cut off the bottom rung and used the cage in place of the rings. Not for Peonies (which I don't grow)but for other plants that need some help from splaying out, this really helps. The problem lately is finding the larger tomato cages. But if you do it's a good alternative to those rings.

Gardening period with the weeding, the watering, deadheading, mulching, digging holes to put plants in or to remove. Having to spray for diseases or pests. Bring dirt in or taking it out, fertilizing, planning, pruning, dividing and the money that goes into it, I mean why do we even bother.

Well, I like to fiddle in the garden a lot so I have over 70 daylilies that do need dead-heading every day. They are so easy to divide though. This is what I do, "honey, can you come over here a minute? I just need you to dig this clump up and pull it apart by the roots." :)

Marsh mallow - beautiful, but then doesn't return and then 2 years later you find babies everywhere.

Most coreopsis - only Moonbeam loves me, the rest never returned. My soil isn't clay enough or something.

Roses - but I did buy 3 this year but probably won't add to that work.

Ornamental grasses - got one because my hubby wanted it. Don't have room for it. Gave half to my parents last year. Still don't know what to do with it.

Anything that needs staking.

Rudbeckia hirta 'Goldsturm' is the worst for me. I now have hundreds and more new seedlings are coming. They are really hard to dig out a clearing. I agree on Joe Pye Weed, the roots are like concrete, but beware of Coreopsis tripteris-its roots are even tougher.

I agree with most of these but you can find substitutes. Single peonies are easier so I grow them instead of the doubles, as one example.

How do people feel about Phlox? In my garden it needs staking every year and division every 4 or 5 years. So far I think it's worth it but when I'm older, who knows?

Dandyline, 'Goldstrum' was one of the worst for me too. I'd forgotten. I took that out about 6 years ago. What a ton of work that was trying to get that out of my sunny bed! I had it planted with a lot of other full sun perennials like coneflower and coreopsis etc and it ran over everything. I do still have and really like 'Indian Summer' Rudbeckia that gently reseeds but does not spread the way 'Goldstrum' does.

I have the wild strain of Campanula carpatica...if you think Blue Clips is bad to dead head.....

Karen