I am in a similar situation Token, I don't know if I have the guts to pull out some of the most gorgeous plants that don't fit the scheme I'm going for. I did exactly what you did, just kind of plugged things everywhere. I'm still very new to all of this so I don't have lots of plants to spare, and it's hard to think about ripping out a plant simply because it is...orange. ;) I'm curious to see what replies you will get, and what you will do in your garden.

Since sadly I seem to garden by trial and error, I find myself in that situation a lot. In fact, it seems that by about the middle of July I'm looking through my books trying to figure out what I should buy in the spring to fix my mistakes. If I basically like the plant, it just didn't work out where I planted it, then I try to relocate it, or give it to someone else. If it's a plant that I discover I really don't care for, for one reason or another, then it may have an unfortunate accident with the business end of the shovel.

If only things looked as good in my garden as they do in my head.

Totally Confused

Token- Sounds like you'll be drawing some garden design plans for the next few weeks. I do that all the time :)

I think everyone gets plants that don't work out or don't fit in with the landscape. That's one reason I like annuals. I can try them and if I don't love them, I don't buy them the next year. With perennials, I'm trying to do a lot of research, but I'm sure I'll get some that don't work.

If I find something doesn't work, I either offer it to mom, friends and neighbors, or donate it to the community garden. I live on a farm near a small town of about 500, so it's easy to give away flowers...everyone knows everyone else and many love to garden. It also opens the door to exchanging plants they have that I'd love to try :)

I'm always moving plants, mainly because I didn't prepare beds properly (forgot to edge and got grass everywhere) or I change my mind about the way the bed should look. It's been a lot of work, but it's given me a better idea of my garden style...and not just copying a plan off the internet (which is tempting sometimes). Good luck with your new garden!

I rarely will dispose of something after its first year in the garden since it might simply be that the plant has to grow on me or that it has to become established before it acts like I thought it should. I might also try the plant in another area to see if its location is what is the issue. After that, I have no problems removing things from the garden if they don't measure up to what I expected them to be. I do tend to offer these types of plant to others to see how they might do in their garden. It is often surprising that two people in the same general area will have two different experiences with the same plant.

I've got butterfly bushes that will be going to a coworker. We've already discussed this. I have way too many purples already. I need to transplant some gingers that didn't get enough sun. I need to divide and move a couple of hibiscus that are going to be swallowed by next year's zinnias and agastache. I really want to focus on one part of the whole bed. It was a jumbled mess this past year as it became the dumping ground for all my perennials that wouldn't bloom until 2010 or later. I know some need to spend another year in the ground, and I will be moving those. But the ditch lilies that seem to pop up all over, they've got to go. Same with the calendulas that never bloom. They grow lovely foliage, then stop when it gets hot. They never come back in the fall. The red texas stars will also be moved. I just need a clean slate for what I have in mind this year.

LOL token, I am a long way from ruthless. I so hate to destroy any plant, that when I found some seedlings of an illegal plants being grown by my constantly trying son, I hesitated to kill them. But then I got up the courage and tossed them into the wood burning stove.
Tammy (maybe I should remain anonymous,lol)

Tom, could you maybe put in an observation/holding bed? You could keep the plants and seedlings there for a year or two before deciding where to put them in your main gardens (or whether or not you just want to chuck em').

I admit, it is hard for me to throw away plants. So, if one fails to impress me I will often move it to my Alley Garden. I put semi-invasive, extras, and dissapointing plants out there. I think that having such a garden is a great way to beautify an otherwise bare spot in your yard without having to buy anything else to fill it up.
CMK

I agree with CMK, if at all possible, try to find a forlorn location that is not a focal point, but could be a place to put plants that don't work in the 'main' gardens. It might make a nice hodgepodge of a cottage garden. You could also put in old nursery pots and keep for trades if you participate in trading or plant swaps. I hate to throw plants away and really should throw some out,but i just find a place to move them to, and usually end up moving them again at some point in the future.
Laurie

I'm like Laurie. I'll move them, and usually end up moving them again when I get that part planned out. If I really don't like the plant, I'll 'forget' to water it after I've planted it. :O Don't tell DH - he's always wondering where I'm going to put all the new plants, and watering the poor things I 'forget' to water. :)

I'm ruthless. If a bed doesn't work for whatever reason, I dig around, move plants and put in new ones, until it looks better.

After all, how else can I excuse my fervor for playing 'plant dominoes' - LOL!

I grow things from seed, and sometimes I have a driveway sale and sell stuff (but not when i worked at a nursery), or I take them to the plant sales at church, donate them to the community garden plant sale where I work, give them to someone who wants them....sometimes I grow things I end up not needing or wanting or it's the wrong color. I usually find a new home for it!

GGG, I can't do the plant sale thing because of my job too. I've been giving away extra rooted cuttings and such all year. I think I'm just going to be ruthless in this one area. It needs a clean slate. I can find homes for most of what is there. If I can't, bye bye.

Wish I lived closer to you Token - I'd take those purples off your hands! :)

I like Louisiana Gal & Christinmk's idea of a holding bed for rejects! Why is that hilarious to me? I love how it was stated "disappointing plants". LOL* I have little doubt that if I were a plant I would end up in that bed for a good long while, until I learned to conform. It is like punishment for the puppy who chews up his owner's good work shoes...disappointing...but instead it's the "snappy salmon" tulips that were really just ORANGE. I like it. :)

Tom, I have no formal design or plans so that rarely happens to me....except when I put two colors together and they turn out to clash horribly. I have red iris with a reddish orange oriental poppy that jars my soul when it booms. I don't dare move the poppies; they resent it and they are my babies that I raised from seeds.

I can relocate the iris............

I only destroy plants that threaten to take over the world.
White snakeroot comes to mind, mints, and oregano and things like that. I also brought a native aster into the bed that may have been a serious mistake. Time will tell.

I'm planning to remove many plants from my front yard. I'm ready for a drastic change but I don't know if I will have the courage to get rid of the plants. Have a hard time giving them away too. People in my neighborhood tend to be very private and keep mostly to themselves so I have a hard time sharing plants even when I try. Go figure.

Hi token, I used to hate to throw away plants, but I am getting better at it. I rarely do though. I have one neighbor who likes to garden and I offer him anything that isn't working for me and he is always happy to have it. Sometimes I have taken plants to a swap. I don't give away anything that is invasive. I throw it out. I have had problems with invasives in the past and would like to save other gardeners from that painful experience.

I have resigned myself to continually moving plants. I realize that there are limitations to my gardening abilities. lol I am always going to need to adjust where I plant something. I don't judge distances well. I have trouble imagining what the eventual size will look like. I now am trying to measure out with a tape measure where the mature size will be when I plant. We'll see how that works out. But it's not just crowding that has me moving plants either. There are lots of reasons. I imagine that there are gardeners who have a talent for visualizing but I still think that even those gardeners move plants. There are so many variables to get right. I am just happy if I get lucky once in awhile. [g]

I have managed to stop worrying about it. I feel much happier accepting that is who I am as a gardener. It is a lot more work to be moving things around but actually, it is a lot of fun too. A few years ago, I looked around one day and I was miserable. I didn't see one thing that I was very happy with. Of course, it is a young garden and a lot of the shrub border has to mature. But I decided to take one small area at a time and work on it until I was happy with it. So far I have one alleyway between the house and garage that I'm very happy with the way it came out. Just a strip of shade plants with mulch, but it's done for the time being and pleases me. Now I have a second bed that is almost just the way I want it. So that gives me encouragement to keep working on the other areas that I'm not happy with.

I have one long border that I have moved around three times now and planning on moving a lot in the spring again. I'm not happy with it at all yet, but it has potential. :-) What I usually do, is decide what is working and in the right place and leave that alone. Dig out the plants that I know are not working for whatever reason and pot them up and keep them around the patio until I decide where to put them next. It's not that I don't plan, I do and I research well before purchasing and I have a lot of plants that I love and end up keeping 90% of what I buy and just have to experiment for awhile before I find the right place for them.

I did the same thing when I was wintersowing. I had a long empty border and just kept planting where I had room. You will work it all out, just give yourself time and enjoy it. :-)

Tom,

I have pulled out enough plants that I decided that I didn't like or didn't fit, to fill a ravine at the back of my propery and now that is where why holding bed sits. LOL. Pulled plants make great compost. :)

I have been thinking of redoing my back side garden for the last couple of years. This was one of the first gardens that I put in....about 14 years ago. It has changed over the years....pulled many plants out that I didn't like, moved others to better spots...Had mice thin this garden one year pretty good.....the little buggers shedded and ate many of the lilies I had in that bed. The perennials that they didn't ruin completely came back. The lilies, some are completely gone, but others grew bulbs from the shreds and there are tons of little bulbs comming up everywhere. I have started pulling them out too. Way to many to just let grow.

My latest compost pile usually has spring bulbs, iris, daylilies and various other plants blooming in it through out the season. This continues till they get burried deep enough. lol.

Don't hesitate to remove a plant you don't like or that doesn't fit in. Turn it into growing gold. It still has a purpose. And don't hesitate to move plants around.....I do this all the time. And Shhhhhh I usually move them when the plants are blooming, so I know what colour and height and such.

I have two holding beds....but mostly they are for plants that can't fit into the garden when I bring them home. lol If I don't like a plant to start with, it won't even make it into the holding beds. And of course there comes a point when the holding beds get over stuffed too. Don't waste space for those plants you know you like....make the garden your own and fill it with the plants you love.

Sierra

I give most plants a chance. If they don't perform I move them, and then ultimately get rid of them if I'm still not happy with them. The process can take quite a number of years though as I always seem to be willing to give it just one more chance (which means usually a couple years in its new spot)to prove itself! LOL! If it's a case where I really dislike the plant I'll be ruthless and dig it out and compost it.

When I had about 5 beds that I was planning to completely rip out and start from scratch, I invited friends over to help me dig everything out and then we divided and they were able to take loads of plants home. Everyone was happy. My workload was cut down quite a bit with all the digging and dividing and my friends had tons of plants for their new gardens.

Tom, I'd love to see a picture of the bed that you consider to be "a jumbled mess". We'd probably all oooh and ahhh over it! The pictures of your garden have always been so nice. Do you need to remove plants to make room for all of those soda bottles on the winter photo thread?!?! I love that photo! Nice work!

Token, Please don't throw/compost any of your plants, but take them to the plant swaps that we have in NC. I think your in NC. There's one in Winston-Salem, High Point and one in Raleigh. Plant swaps are in the Spring and Fall. Not only will your plants be going to good homes but you'll walk away with some wonderful plants, too.

Your garden looking absolutely wonderful to me. You were a big inspiration as to why I'm doing wintersowing this year. Your before and after photographs were wonderful. Last year was my first year at wintersowing.

I ususally do a little sprucing up each year in my garden for under performing plants or plants that I just have to many of and I head to the plant swap to share with other fellow gardeners.

Judy

PS - I'm impressed with all those soda bottle you've already wintersowed for the year! Looking forward to seeing your 2010 Garden on GardenWeb!

Thanks ya'll. Judy, I will consider the plant swaps. I live about 1.5 hours south of Winston about 45 minutes from Charlotte. When are the swaps and where do I get the info?

The bed I want to rework is in the center of the perennial bed. It was a mess of cleome, zinnias, agastache, and several other items. I've already removed a large plum tree and put in its place a smaller, more compact crape myrtle. I want to make this area a zinnia bed with some agastache and other plants for hummers and goldfinches. The bird bath is right in the middle. It's some of the worst soil in the area since I made a mistake of adding wood mulch there two summers ago. I don't get a lot of reseeding except for the cosmos. I think it just needs come coherent attention. It's not like the borders that were planned and structured. It was where I just tossed my odds and ends. I'm going to remove the daylilies and irises first. Then the sea holly. Probably the Dames Rocket and for sure, the Red Texas Star hibiscus. They need more moisture and sunlight. The rest may end up being scattered around the yard in various places as they reappear this year. I've got high and low spots that need to be leveled. Friday is my target day to work in that bed. It's supposed to be 60 degrees here. And I have the whole morning to dig in the dirt.

Ugh! 60 degrees! you are sooo lucky! I have a hard time pulling plants, but i do it anyway. I had roses that were perfectly healthy, bloomed all summer but werent part of my color scheme . At the end of the season i had to rip them out, it broke my heart but they were not colors i liked. I also bought a weeping cherry at lowes, that the tag said wouldnt be tall. I think 8 ft. I had it planted in the perfect area, but ball my google searches said it would end up much much bigger. So, i had to return it, even though ive always wanted one.
Sometimes you have to rip off the band-aid, as painful as it is!

Token, I will try to keep you informed as to when the plant swap are via cottage garden or by e-mail. They're usually listed on the Gardening in the Carolinas forum. That's how I found out about Gardenweb. I just recently discover this forum and the seed exchange forum. Most of the folks that attend these swaps are gardenwebbers, but not always. The more the merrier! The Winston-Salem Swap is put on by the Master Gardeners, but everyone is invited.

Just wanted to let you know, that the city of Winston-Salem gives away FREE leave mulch twice a year for a couple of weekends, Spring & Fall. I know that a big distance for you to travel, but all you need is a truck and tarp to haul it. People come as far away as VA to get this mulch, usually driving dump trucks. It is the best stuff that you can put down for your soil. My soil is incredible, my husband and I have been using the leave mulch for about 10 years now. It really turns your soil dark.

It's very sad when you have to get rid of plants and there are some plants that you decide that you just don't want any longer. I've have found the swaps to be the best place to take these plants because somebody is always looking for them. You'd be surprised at what I've seen at the swaps and also the different type of plants I've gotten. I highly recommend the swaps.

Have a great gardening day on Friday. Our high in Winston-Salem is going to be 54. I'm going to do some gardening as well. I'm just hoping my seeds arrive so that I can do my winter sowing.

Tom, I was going to suggest donating them at a plant swap also. What about putting them on Freecycle.org?Or Craig's list? Does your mind ever shut down? I'd love to have your boundless energy, but all that coffee you drink is going to start eating away at your insides..hope it is "unleaded" as my son refers to Decafe. I can't imagine you throwing away or even burning any plants, as much as you love them. Ever thought of setting up a table out on the driveway one beautiful day with a FREE, take one or two sign? Give this plant a good home. What about beautifying around a school if it hasn't been landscaped? Creating a Memorial garden somewhere. At our public library is a small Memorial garden set up by the parents of a young child who died from cancer. It is tastefully done and when you walk down the path they created with stepping stones that were made, not purchased commercially, a sense of peace comes over you. Remember the little fella that wrote the book of poems and was on Oprah Show? Last name is Stepanik(may be spelled incorrectly)There is a park named for this young fella where he lived. Another source for your plants. With your architecture talents, you'd come up with something beautiful. Maybe a special garden at a nursing home where families could sit with their loved ones when they visit in nice weather. You can do it, you can!

Sell the plants at the farmers market. And, please don't start over.. let this garden mature. I may not live long enough to see the second garden mature. And all that work has exhausted us , watching you. We would like to reap the rewards of your efforts. :)

I'm catching up on the threads since I was on vacation and battling blog content theft... back to some fun!

Token, I felt the same way and spent the entire month of September and into October rearranging my garden. I was ruthless! Now, all this cold weather and wet winter has me worried about all that fall transplanting. I may have to REALLY start over in the spring if those plants don't overwinter!

Cameron

I think you are all spinning stories here, because every time I look at photos of your gardens they look perfect- no holes, no terrible color combos. I have to lay on my stomach and point the camera up at a plant to get photos that are not primarily dirt, sprinklers, hoses and weeds.

I have horrible spurts of energy where I decide I'm getting rid of blues and purples, or replacing annuals with perennials, and so on. I always regret what I have done the following year. I'm with frogview- I don't have enough springs left to keep this up.

Renee