Ever Fail With Foolproof Plant ?

[Nyboy]

Marigolds are suppose to be one of the easy flowers to grow. I given up on them they always die on me. Bee balm I have read warnings it can be invasive, with me it struggles to live. Do you have any easy to grow plant that you just can't grow ?

 

[flowerbug]

anything called deer proof...

 

[flowerbug]

Marigolds are suppose to be one of the easy flowers to grow. I given up on them they always die on me. Bee balm I have read warnings it can be invasive, with me it struggles to live. Do you have any easy to grow plant that you just can't grow ?

bee balm seems to like full sun and mulch. it runs through ours out front not even under the weed barrier fabric. unfortunately it also gets powdery mildew. even the bergamot (which looks like bee balm but is light purple instead of red) gets that. we had bergamot in a small patch inside the fence then it took off into the surrounding crushed limestone. it was growing happily there (a few inches of crushed limestone over old carpeting) until i reclaimed that area for an expanded strawberry patch. so i took a clump out into the NE Garden and put it there in some actual soil. now instead of being 1-2ft tall it is growing 3-4ft. i don't think i'll have a problem with keeping it alive and it may be one of those plants that the deer won't eat much of. it's so strongly scented...

it took us several tries to get the red lucifer to take, but that has survived quite a long time now. last year a neighbor came by and asked what it was because of the bright scarlet red flowers it gets. the hummingbirds love it and the red bee balm is right next to it they like that too.

do deer eat marigolds? (i know, i know, silly question... )

 

[Ridgerunner]

In Arkansas I never had a problem with deer eating marigolds. And they were extremely easy to grow, great color too. I have not tried them down here but plan to next year. It may be too hot, I don't know. I did bring some seeds with me.

I don't know how many failures I've had. Some of that is due to climate, just too hot or the winters were too cold. Maybe it had to do with drainage, some things just don't like wet feet. Over or under watering may have contributed. Too much or too little sun?

I tried rosemary, I really tried. I planted Arp, a cold resistant variety. There were a lot of people around that had huge bushes, I tried to duplicate the planting conditions. especially going with a well drained area. But rosemary was just not meant to be.

When the Scarlet runner beans were the sexy craze I tried. Production of beans and blooms were really bad. The vines were really scrawny. I think it was just too hot. Wrong climate. I think celeriac had a similar problem. It grew but the roots developed blackened hollows. Probably too hot. I tried celery too. It just did not produce like it should although I kept it alive for the second season.

Then the tulips. They grew fine and all that but the deer considered them a real treat.

 

[so lucky]

I apparently can't grow azaleas. I have some barely alive, which produce about a dozen blooms each, in the late spring.

 

[Nyboy]

Lucky they grow great here, but there like crack for deer.

 

[Nyboy]

even the bergamot (which looks like bee balm but is light purple instead of red) g

Bee balm and Bergamot are same plant

 

[flowerbug]

Bee balm and Bergamot are same plant

from same plant family, but are different colors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarda_didyma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarda_fistulosa

we have both of those here and they're not the same.

 

[seedcorn]

Plants I can kill.......

Bee balm, mint, lavender, any aquarium plant, just about anything I start in the house to transplant, Should I go on?

 

[thistlebloom]

Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) actually comes in many colors, reds, red/oranges, raspberry red, pale pinks, bubblegum pink, lavender...

And don't believe that deer won't eat it. It depends on the deer herd of course but they mow it down in town here.

I have never seen deer eat marigolds, but they do enjoy pulling them out of the ground and dropping them.

If there is a fail proof plant I can't grow, I just blame the plant.

@seedcorn , I can't believe you can't grow aquarium plants. Did you forget to add water?