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myrtleoak

Poll (just for fun)

18 years ago

Name your least favorite shrub/tree and the shrub/tree that you feel is most underrated.

Least favorite: Burning Bush

Underrated: Carolina Laurelcherry

Comments (16)

  • 18 years ago

    Least favorite: It is a tie, Tree of Heaven... Paper Mulberry.

    Most favorite: A thorny thing I disliked when I first moved here. Grows like a teenage boy... so I have to cut it back a lot. But it went through the freeze like a champ. Every year, including this one, it gives pollinators something to do when nothing else is blooming. It has orange berries. Why has it's name escaped me this morning?

  • 18 years ago

    least favorite: Bradford Pear
    Underrated: Too many to list. A common one I like that many people don't is Mimosa. It's pretty, easy to grow, and isn't invasive enough to bother me.

  • 18 years ago

    least favorite: BRADFORD PEAR. They should be on the envasive list. We can't get rid of ours even after cutting down and grinding the stump. Plus, they stink like a dirty toilet when they bloom.

    underated: Trachycarpus fortuneii. I love our palms! When everything melted in the freeze, they were growing completely unaffected!

    Rebecca

  • 18 years ago

    Ditto to Canna(notice the sucking up to the wife?)

    Bradfords, evergreen azaleas=BOOOOOO!

    Calycanthus=YEAAAAAA!

    Doug
    I3

  • 18 years ago

    Cathy, I think you may be talking about a pyracantha (sp?).

  • 18 years ago

    Least favorite: I agree -- Bradford Pear

    Most favorite:

    Muscadines - I got enough the second year to make bunches of jelly. It looks like this year I'll have at least 10 times what I had last year.

    Lady Banks Roses - I got several of these in white, yellow and purple (which actually looks more pink). They grow quickly and make a nice screen on my chain link fence. They bloom for a couple of weeks in the spring and are covered in blooms.

    Katie

  • 18 years ago

    Least favorite: Bradford Pear - they're rarely trimmed correctly and end up looking stupid from breakage. They are okay to look at in a group from a distance, but I can't help but think about how they'll eventually have wind damage and will look pitiful.

    Underrated: Euonymous - We're making a hedge from ours and it's been fun to watch it go through all the different stages of growth. Right now it's got long, floppy stems.

  • 18 years ago

    Yes, myrtleoak, pyracantha...it is a cotoneaster, right?

  • 18 years ago

    Not sure. All I know is that it is a southern European native.

  • 18 years ago

    myrtleoak...

    I am back to calling it a pyracantha. I found a cultivar in a book (no pix) that mentions orange berries and upright growth to about 15 feet. That sounds like my baby.

  • 18 years ago

    I think they are sometimes underappreciated also (pyracantha, that is).

  • 18 years ago

    Pyracantha and Cotoneaster are different. W3e had both of them when I was growing up in California.
    The Pyracantha had dark green glossy leaves with lots of red berries. And nasty, nasty thorns. It's called Firethorn for a reason. You see it espaliered a lot on the west coast.
    Definietly one of my least favorite plants.
    The Cotoneaster was a big bush with arshing branches. The leaves were a fuzzy grey and the berries were darker, more a burgundy. No thorns. Birds were quite fond of both of them.

    Here is a link that might be useful: cotoneaster photos

  • 18 years ago

    I hate butterfly bush. Gets to big and ugly.
    Magnolias are my favorite. I wish I had 100's on my property.

  • 18 years ago

    My least favorite? Hmmm. Privet hands down because it is invasive if you give it the least opportunity. One of those give it an inch and it takes a mile species. I'm not fond of mimosa for the same reason, but don't hate it quite as bad.

    My favorite bush would probably be camellia because I don't have any luck with it here. I had huge beautiful bushes where I grew up, but have never been able to get my soil right here. Azaleas too. They are so pretty in bloom, but I can't grow them worth a hang either.

  • 18 years ago

    Also thumbs down: tree of heaven, hostas (sorry), Japanese barberry (boring...fringeflower fills this red shrub niche much better), butterfly bush(always looks messy to me), prostrate ground cover juniper (ughh!).

    Also thumbs up: red tip photina, deodar cedar, waxmyrtle (should be more available), fringetree (nice native).

  • 18 years ago

    I am new to Nashville from Southern California.

    I am sorry but I like the butterfly bush. I planted two as soon as we moved here.

    I think the Flame Bush is way over used. Got rid of them right away.

    I did not like the monkey grass when I got here, but starting to like it.

    Beth in Antioch

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